Harry Potter and the Dark Lord's Servant
by EJ Malfoy
Summary: Voldemort is getting a new servant and Wormtail doesn't like it. And Harry may just be the new servant's sacrifice to Voldemort. Rated PG-13 for verbal content.
1. Prolougue

Harry Potter and the Dark Lord's Servant  
  
By EJ Malfoy  
  
Disclaimer: I own Aviar School of Sorcery, Damien, and all other characters and/or settings that are not already known by/owned by someone else. All regular Harry Potter characters and/or settings are owned by J. K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, Warner Bros. Pictures, and all others.  
  
Prolouge  
  
14 years before…  
  
McGonagall entered Dumbledore's office quickly, her robes swishing with her movement, with a worried look about her face. Dumbledore wiped his brow, acknowledging McGongall's entrance. McGonagall sat down in the chair in front of his desk.  
  
"Albus, I don't think the students can wait any longer in the Great Hall," McGonagall said. "They've been in there for hours since the accident at dinner."  
  
"I know, Minerva, but I'm a bit baffled about what happened myself," Dumbledore said, grazing his silvery long beard.  
  
"There's nothing to be baffled about," Minerva said, "Believe me, Sybil has never made a correct prediction in her life. I don't even think it was right to hire her."  
  
"We hired her because Professor Torrent retired after 145 years of good service as our Divination teacher. And this is not a prediction, it is definitely a prophecy." Minerva gasped, clasping a hand to her mouth.  
  
"Do you really think so?"  
  
"I would never doubt myself on such a thing."  
  
"What were the words to it again?" Albus picked up the parchment on his desk, fixed his half-moon spectacles on his nose, and read:  
  
The time has come through and through,  
  
For the serpent's servant to renew,  
  
Giving sacrifice to his master,  
  
Or ending his own life in disaster.  
  
Marked by the serpent, he knows no fear,  
  
He knows no love and no tear,  
  
Fifteen years we shall wait,  
  
For the serpent's servant to elevate.  
  
Minerva sat there for a moment, puzzled. "What does it all mean, Albus?" she asked. Just then, an large tawny owl flew through the window. It landed lightly on Dumbledore's desk, carrying a note in one of its claws. Dumbledore quickly opened the note and read it.  
  
"I'm not certain but we have larger problems at the moment," Albus said getting up from his seat. Minerva got up also, looking bewildered.  
  
"What larger problems?" Minerva asked.  
  
"Something's happened to the Potters!" 


	2. Summer Holidays

Chapter One – Summer Holidays  
  
A man of nearly thirty-two walked down the bare hall of Aviar School of Sorcery, his black robes swaying in his motion. He ran his hand through his light brown hair and sighed. He was joined by a glum-faced young boy that followed him half-way down the hall. The boy was nearly fifteen with black eyes and darkish red hair. He wore a long-sleeved skateboard shirt and a pair of blue jeans. "What's wrong with you?" the man asked him. The boy looked at him weirdly.  
  
"As if you don't know how I feel," the boy said, rolling his eyes. "You've been like a father to me for, like, 7 years and you've learned nothing about me. Come on, Professor Dawsey." Mike Dawsey sighed and went down the rest of the hallway, the boy still following. Dawsey really had expected something different from someone like him. He went into the first door on the left, the Teachers Lounge. The boy followed him inside. He had been used to seeing the white-walled Teachers Lounge with its smell of coffee and floor cleaner. "It's a wonder they don't have the whole school looking this clean."  
  
"Damien, you know students aren't allowed to be in here," Dawsey said.  
  
"During the school year, they aren't," Damien interrupted, sitting down on the couch behind him. "And anyway, I've done this for years. Why are you just getting on me?" Dawsey let out a sigh and sat down on the couch next to him.  
  
"It's just I don't want you carrying these habits away with you…" Dawsey just realized he had said too much. Damien turned to him in interest.  
  
"What? Away. Away where?" Damien said. Professor Dawsey sighed again, seemingly not wanting to break the news to him. Damien nudged him in the arm a few times trying to get him to say it.  
  
"Well, you know that school up in northern England that I've told you about."  
  
"You mean Hoglumps?"  
  
"Hogwarts!" Dawsey said quickly. Damien looked at him weirdly.  
  
"Okay, okay. Hogwarts. What about it?"  
  
"Well…I sent out a transfer form to them. For you."  
  
"Wait, wait, wait. Hold up. You sent out a transfer to a school without my consent." Dawsey nodded. Damien looked at him with anger and surprise. "So, did I get in?" Dawsey gulped.  
  
"Well…yes!" Dawsey said and smiled.  
  
"I hate you!" Damien said and punched Dawsey in the arm. "Why Hogwarts, though? Across the ocean? And in England? I thought I was doomed to live in Sunbury, Pennsylvania."  
  
"It's one of the best schools in history," Dawsey said. "A friend of mine went there. The Auror."  
  
"You mean that old guy that came here last year for that assembly? That guy that gave me an extra hour of sleep in the middle of the day?" Dawsey eyed him for a second. "It's true! I swear I slept through that whole thing on, what was it, 'The Joys of Aurorship."  
  
"It was very educational, if you listened to it," Dawsey said.  
  
"It was also very boring!"  
  
"Just go up and start packing up the hurricane accident you call your room," Dawsey said.  
  
"Whatever you say, Professor," Damien said, getting up, "But if that school is anything like that assembly I'm going to be getting a lot more sleep."  
  
"Go! Now!" Dawsey said, pointing to the door.  
  
"Jeez, just warning ya!" Damien said, leaving the room. Dawsey took out his wand and conjured himself up a cup of coffee at just the right temperature.  
  
"So you told him," came a voice from the other end of the room as he took a sip of his coffee.  
  
"Yes, I told him, Sarah," Dawsey said. Sarah came and stood next to him. Her deep brown eyes didn't surpass her silky voice and brown long hair. Dawsey raised an eyebrow and sighed.  
  
"Why do act like you regret it, then, Mike?" Sarah asked, sitting next to him.  
  
"I don't know. I just hate to see him go," Mike replied.  
  
"Why? All he is is a stress provider." Mike turned to her. "Anyway, it was the right thing to do. You're practically his father." Mike took another sip of his coffee.  
  
"Oh yeah, the great stress provider," Mike said, trying to let the coffee soothe him. "And I'm not practically his father. I'm hypothetically his father."  
  
"You shouldn't think that way, you know," Sarah said, pulling out her wand and conjuring herself up a cup of coffee herself.  
  
"Like I'll ever hear him consider me his real father," Mike said.  
  
"Relax. You have a month left with him. Make it a good one. Do something special for his birthday."  
  
"He'll only get mad at me for making such a big deal about it." Mike sat back, took a big gulp of his coffee sat back and relaxed. Sarah brushed off his shoulder and took a sip of her own coffee.  
  
*****  
  
Harry sat on the end of his bed writing furiously on the piece of parchment in front of him, his jet black hair covering his face. Ron sat on his own bed holding his head up with his hand popping Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans into his mouth. Ron, who seemed to no longer want this boredom to go on, got up and nudged Harry.  
  
"Come on, Harry," Ron said, "We've got a month left until school. I think that's enough time to finish McGonagall's essay." Harry looked up to see Ron's pleading face.  
  
"I guess you're right," Harry said, putting the parchment away. " I still need to practice some on my Quidditch skills."  
  
"That's the ticket!" Ron said, smiling. Harry got up and picked up his Firebolt racing broom. Ron grinned and led Harry out the door and down the stairs. Harry now was used to Ginny peaking out her door and turning scarlet, Percy telling them to walk quietly from out of his room, and Fred and George's room letting out loud BANGs every time they used the stairs.  
  
When they got downstairs, they found Mrs. Weasley conjuring up sandwiches. Ron "shhh"ed Harry behind him and tried to tip-toe to the back door. As soon as he touched the doorknob, Mrs. Weasley turned to them.  
  
"Ronald Weasley! Trying to sneak outside behind my back." Mrs. Weasley told him. "Why if Harry wasn't here, I'd give you a wallop right now."  
  
"Mum, I'm 15. You wouldn't wallop me if I'm that old." Mrs. Weasley gasped.  
  
"And if you ever want to see 16, you'll have to get through me first! I put you in this world and I can take you out!" Mrs. Weasley barked. Fred and George sniggered from the edge of the stairs as Ron turned crimson in the face. "That goes for the both of you, too. I've heard the noises from you're room and if I find one thing in your room that had anything to do with Wizard Weasley Wheezes, you both with be de-gnoming the yard until further notice." Fred and George frowned.  
  
"Now, Harry," she said in a sweeter tone, "Would you like a sandwich?"  
  
"Yes, ma'am," Harry said, looking bewildered.  
  
"Such manners," Mrs. Weasley complimented. Ron nudged Harry, to which he shrugged. "Your aunt and uncle should be proud of you." Like his aunt and uncle would ever be proud of him. They wouldn't be proud of him to save their lives. They are more ashamed of him than imaginable. And all because he's a wizard. Those Muggles would care if he was named prime minister, he'd still be a nothing.  
  
They all sat down and ate their sandwiches in silence. When they finished, they made it outside to practice Quidditch. First, Harry shot off into the air on his broom. Ron started to throw stones into the air for Harry to catch. He caught all of them. After about an hour of this, Harry came down. Ron mounted himself on the broom and took off. Harry threw some stones into the air and, surprisingly, Ron caught most of them. For hours they stayed out there, each taking turns on the Firebolt. Sunset neared and they knew they had to go in.  
  
"Looks like you've gotten better," Harry said, seeing Ron come down.  
  
"I learn from the best," Ron said, smiling. They both went back up to the house and went upstairs to Ron's room. "Ah, I can't wait to get back to Hogwarts."  
  
"I can't either," Harry said sitting on his bed. Suddenly, Mr. Weasley cam in looking bewildered.  
  
"Harry, can you explain something to me?" Harry chuckled.  
  
"Of course, Mr. Weasley," Harry replied.  
  
"Well, I just picked up a carton of 'I Can't Believe It's Not Butter."  
  
"Yeah…so," Harry said.  
  
"Well, if it's not butter, then what is it?"  
  
"It is butter," Harry said.  
  
"No, no. The title says it's not butter. It can't be butter." Harry sighed.  
  
"Looks like another long explanation," Harry said to Ron. "I'll see you later, Ron."  
  
"See ya," Ron said, as Harry exited the room with Mr. Weasley. Ron laid back on his bed and let out a sigh. "I guess some things never change." And suddenly he felt rather tired, closing his eyes and falling into a short sleep. 


	3. Percy's Proposal

Chapter Two – Percy's Proposal  
  
A week passed and everything stayed "normal" for a while. That was until that fine August morning when she came. Harry and Ron had just woken and gotten dressed when they heard Mrs. Weasley from downstairs.  
  
"Ah, welcome to our humble abode. Please come in Miss…"  
  
"Clearwater. Penelope Clearwater," she said. Harry and Ron's mouths dropped open. Penelope Clearwater was there, out of the blue.  
  
"I wonder why she's here," Ron said.  
  
"Ah, Penelope. So very nice to see you again. Please sit down," Percy said, this being practically the first time he came out of his room all summer other than work.  
  
"I guess that explains it," Harry said, heading downstairs with Ron following. They both knew that Percy and Penelope had been going out through Hogwarts. When they got to the bottom of the stairs Percy and Penelope were in deep conversation. Her dark brown hair and light blue eyes looked better than they had before. Percy seemingly tried to ignore their entrance but Penelope brought them up.  
  
"Penelope, this is my brother Ron and Harry Potter," Percy said melodramatically.  
  
"I remember you two," Penelope said, shaking their hands. It seemed that Penelope had grown taller and attractive. "You're the two that protected the Sorcerer's Stone and got past all those traps. And the ones that saved that girl from the Chamber of Secrets. Don't you have a girl friend?"  
  
"Yes, her name's Hermione. And that girl from the Chamber of Secrets was my sister, Ginny," Ron said.  
  
"Speaking of that case with the Chamber of Secrets, wasn't that a frightful year," Percy said, trying to change the subject quickly. Harry and Ron got the message that they weren't wanted and went into the kitchen, getting their breakfast done and eaten. After they finished, they went back upstairs, sitting on their beds.  
  
"Isn't Percy modest?" Ron said sarcastically.  
  
"Yeah, about as modest as Lockhart used to be," Harry replied.  
  
"Well, since we're probably gonna be here for a while, want to play a game of chess?" Harry nodded and they both pulled out their pieces.  
  
*****  
  
"Checkmate!" Damien called to the other side of the table, snapping the piece on the chessboard.  
  
"Another great game played," Dawsey said, sitting back in his chair. "I still don't know how you keep winning."  
  
"It's my gift. A talent I take pride in," Damien said, grinning broadly.  
  
"All right, gifted boy, put up the pieces," Dawsey said. "You know you'll want them for when you go to school." Damien's grin faded. "It's not that bad!"  
  
"For you, maybe," Damien replied, turning his head.  
  
"It's only another school." Damien rolled his eyes.  
  
"With probably more rules," Damien said, starting to put away the chess pieces.  
  
"It's not that bad!" Dawsey said again. Dawsey let out a long sigh as Damien finished with the pieces. "Okay, okay. I'm going to tell you something you will never hear again." Damien raised an eyebrow. "With my permission…you can do anything you want at school." Now he raised both eyebrows.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean anything at that school. No Howlers sent. No checking up on you. No anything. You're old enough anyway."  
  
"Are you serious?"  
  
"Just don't get yourself expelled."  
  
"Of course not…"  
  
"That may be your death wish, Mike," Sarah said, entering the room.  
  
"No, it isn't. It's a savior, Professor Altovin!" Damien said, now smiling again.  
  
"Yes, for once, I think he's right," Mike said.  
  
"Hey!" Damien said, throwing a chess piece at him.  
  
"Just kidding! You've been right twice!" Damien raised an eyebrow sarcastically.  
  
"Well, I'm not going to take this," Damien said, picking up the chess piece and leaving the room.  
  
"He's really something, isn't he?" Sarah said with a chuckle. Mike nodded scratching his black hair. "Are you sure about this 'anything goes' attitude?"  
  
"No, but all I can do is hope it works."  
  
*****  
  
Damien entered his room with his bag of chess pieces. He put them down on an empty bed and went to his bed. His bed was littered with candy wrappers and balled up pieces of parchment. He moved most of the things from the bed and laid down on it.  
  
He hated the thought of leaving Aviar and leaving Professor Dawsey. But he'd go to this Hogwarts place if it would make him happy. He's always tried to make him happy. This would be his pay back. He was pretty partial to him now that he's gotten to know him better.  
  
Damien sighed and pulled a picture from under his pillow. It was a picture of Professor Dawsey waving in front of Aviar. Aviar didn't look that bad from the front, with its large passageway and large draped windows. It had about 2 towers but they were both observatories. There was supposed to be a secret tower somewhere but nobody ever found it.  
  
Damien took the picture and stuffed it back under his pillow. He wouldn't let leaving change him. Nothing would change him. All his life he's been the same, just different maturity levels. He'd go to Hogwarts with the same attitude he's always had. Going to Britain was just going to change the setting, not the course.  
  
With that, he suddenly felt hungry. He got up from his bed and headed out the door. Going to the cafeteria only took him 5 minutes and the house elves always gave him just about everything he wanted. Especially his favorite dish, pumpkin pie. With thoughts of food beyond his wildest dreams, Damien headed into the kitchen.  
  
*****  
  
"Ron! Harry! Fred! George! Ginny! Come down! It's dinnertime!" Mrs. Weasley called up the stairs. Suddenly, a stampede headed down the stairs. All the kids knew that when company was over, that big dinners were a must. It wasn't a selection like at Hogwarts, but a selection none the less.  
  
The table had a nice large turkey, stuffing, ham pie, boiled potatoes, and salad. It was a feast to remember to him, unlike the year before. Ron, who almost always had an appetite, immediately dug in. The food was delicious, good to the last bite. Percy talked to Penelope through the whole dinner.  
  
The table was cleared when everyone was almost full and gotten ready for dessert. Before dessert was served Percy stood, tapping his glass with his fork.  
  
"Excuse me," Percy said, "Can I have everyone's attention." All of them turned to Percy. "As all of you know, probably, I have spent many great years with Miss Clearwater here."  
  
"Wow, isn't that surprising," Ron whispered to Harry.  
  
"Shh…" Mrs. Weasley said to him.  
  
"I am very glad to have met her and feel in my heart that I would do about anything for her."  
  
"How about jumping off a cliff for me," Fred whispered, making George snigger.  
  
"Shh!" Mrs. Weasley said again, trying to savor the moment.  
  
"So I feel that I have found the right time and right place to ask this eternal question of my love that has hovered in my mind for such a long time." Percy suddenly got on one knee in from of Penelope and pulled out his wand, pointing it at her. Harry thought this weird for him to point his wand at her at such a moment. But he wasn't about to say a spell.  
  
"Penelope Clearwater, will you marry me?" 


	4. Sebastian Linquist

Chapter 3 – Sebastian Linquist  
  
Penelope gasped, looking straight into Percy's eyes. The shock of the question seemed to frighten her. She then looked around at all of us with our mouths open. She then smiled and turned back to him, pulling out her wand.  
  
"Yes!" Penelope said, touching the end of her wand to his. Suddenly, there was a small spark of golden light and when the light faded a moment later, a ring lay on her middle finger. Both Percy and Penelope got up and kissed each other.  
  
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were clapping. Fred, George and Ron sat there sort of stuck in the moment. They were still in shock. Harry was just confused. He'd never thought of people proposing to be like that. In the Muggle world, they would just buy rings, ask and give the ring if they said yes.  
  
"Ron, is that how people propose?" Harry asked him, nudging his arm and pulling him out of his trance. Ron blinked a few seconds before answering.  
  
"More or less. Most rich people have a brighter spark and a longer lasting light. The brighter and longer the spark, the more the ring is worth."  
  
"So, do they buy rings?" Harry asked.  
  
"Not exactly. Custom spells for rings are made for them. That's what they buy." Harry had never thought that proposing would be so different. When Percy and Penelope had finished their kiss, dessert was served. It was a medium-sized flaming pudding. All of them dug in quickly, Percy and Penelope feeding each other and talking all through it. At the end of dessert, Percy stood again. He cleared his throat loudly before speaking.  
  
"We have decided on a marriage in two weeks at the 'Castle de Amore."  
  
"Isn't that a bit expensive?" Mr. Weasley said, standing.  
  
"We'll manage," Penelope said, standing and grasping Percy's hand. Mr. Weasley smiled and took up his glass. He raised it to them and took a long sip, then sat. Fred and George were told to do the dishes, grumbling all through it, so Ron and Harry went upstairs to play a game of Exploding Snap. After three games, they started yawning so they went to bed. They both laid in their beds, Ron slipping into sleep first. Harry dozed next, trying to imagine in his dreams what the marriage would look like.  
  
  
  
*****  
  
The dank, dark chamber was lit only by an occasional torch on the wall. Lord Voldemort sat on his throne looking at the Death Eaters before him. His thin mouth went straight across his face. His eyes, the darkest green, flashed at what he saw.  
  
"This is the year that I am very proud to be in," Voldemort called. "This is the year I find a new servant. One that is as loyal, brave, and strong as I wish him to be." Wormtail finished at his side.  
  
"My lord," Wormtail quivered out of his mouth. "Is it that time already. Surely you know how loyal I have been…"  
  
"Wormtail!" Voldemort said, shutting him up. "Your time has fallen. The new must prevail." Wormtail gulped nervously.  
  
"I can easily bring you a sacrifice to renew my…"  
  
"No, Wormtail! You time is spent!" Voldemort bellowed. "Do NOT defy me!" Wormtail cowered into the darkness behind the chair.  
  
"My lord," said a voice from the group. Voldemort turned to see that Lucius Malfoy had stepped forward.  
  
"Speak," Voldemort said.  
  
"If you search for a new servant, search no further. I am the one who was meant to sit beside your throne." Voldemort squinted his eyes at him, as if checking him over. Wormtail peeked out from behind the chair, wishing that this was not true.  
  
"I am sorry, Mr. Malfoy," Voldemort said, "You are qualified but I am looking for new blood." Lucius bowed his head, cursing himself, and rejoined the group. Wormtail sighed thankfully. "You shall all see the spoils of this new arrival and of what we can accomplish. Snape!"  
  
"You call, my lord," Snape came forward and said.  
  
"Tell me of the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," Voldemort said.  
  
"It's a Linquist. Sebastian Linquist. Very young to be a professor, yet quick witted. Overall, not a problem to us, my lord."  
  
"Excellent," Voldemort said as Snape rejoined the group. "It seems we are ready for my plan to come into action. Fifteen years are almost up." Voldemort looked up for a moment, savoring it. "All of you are dismissed." Slowly, the Death Eaters left the chamber in silence. Voldemort sat on his throne, a small smile sitting on his face, feeling humble at the moment. Wormtail came from out of the complete darkness slowly as the last of the Death Eaters left the chamber.  
  
"I shall leave you to your chamber alone," Wormtail said.  
  
"Yes, please do, Wormtail," Voldemort said. "I have many things to think about." Wormtail bowed his head then turned on his heel and left the chamber. Though Voldemort thought of Wormtail as a follower, Wormtail's mind was as useful as his. Wormtail had a plan of his own, against Voldemort's will, and awaited the right time to unleash it.  
  
*****  
  
Harry fell out of the Diagon Alley fireplace, flat on his stomach, making his glasses fall off of his face and to Ron's feet. Another week had gone by and they now thought that it was the time to get their school things. Ron picked up his glasses and went over to Harry. He helped Harry up and gave him his glasses, which he promptly put on. Dirt had accumulated on them so he took them off and wiped them with his shirt.  
  
"I'm sorry Harry," Ron said, "I forgot you're not that good with Floo Powder."  
  
"It's okay," Harry said, putting his glasses back on. They all headed to Gringotts first, the underground wizard bank. On the way down to the Weasley's vault, Mr. Weasley seemed to be getting nauseous in the cart. Everyone tried to stay away from his part of the small cart as they went farther down. When they got the vault, they removed the few coins that lingered there. Harry felt awful when they got to his vault. He removed piles of coins into his bag and filled it to the brim.  
  
After leaving Gringotts, they all split up and agreed to meet in front of Gringotts when they finished. Fred and George obviously went to the joke shop down the street. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley took Ginny to a second-hand shop for some of her items she needed. Harry and Ron had gotten hungry from the Gringotts trip and headed to the ice cream shop. Harry ordered a chocolate fudge sundae while Ron ordered a strawberry-kiwi float on a cream soda. After they finished their cones, they headed towards Florish and Blotts to get their new books.  
  
"Hey guys!" they heard on the way into the store. They both turned around to see Hermione Granger, her brown bushy hair longer than before, standing behind them.  
  
"Hey Hermione!" they said together, then chuckled.  
  
"So what's been happening?" Hermione asked, her face getting brighter. "I didn't hear much from you this summer."  
  
"Percy's getting married!" Ron said spat out. Hermione's mouth dropped. It looked like she wanted to laugh so badly but didn't want to do it out loud.  
  
"What! To Who?" Hermione asked quickly.  
  
"Penelope Clearwater!" Harry said. Hermione's mouth went back to its normal position after that. It seemed like it wasn't that big of a deal after that remark. All of them had known about Percy and Penelope since second year. As they went through the store finding their new books, they talked about each other's summers. Ron was particularly interested if Hermione had gotten rid of Crookshanks, but Hermione said that she loved her very much, so it was a lost cause. When they got down to the last book on the list, Ron looked puzzled.  
  
"What's wrong with you?" Harry said, adjusting his glasses on his nose.  
  
"Our last book, 'Monsters and Myths: You guides to Dark Beings' by Martese Minotaur," Ron said.  
  
"What about it?" Hermione said, "Sounds like a good book."  
  
Surprised you haven't read it already?" Harry said, chuckling. Hermione kicked him in the shin for the remark. Harry immediately felt the pain, knocking him over into the person behind him. "Sorry, sir."  
  
"It's okay, kid," the guy said. He wore long purple robes with white Muggle sneakers showing under them. His hair was shimmering black and his eyes were a dark blue. "Accidents happen," he said, picking up the books he had dropped. Harry quickly picked himself up and the books he had been holding.  
  
"Well, sorry again Mr., um…"  
  
"Linquist," the man said, shaking Harry's hand slowly. "Well, I must be off."  
  
"Wait a minute!" Hermione said. "Linquist…" Hermione snapped her fingers for a moment, thinking of the name. She finally stopped and pointed at him. "You're the new Defence teacher."  
  
"At Hogwarts, yes. How did you know?"  
  
"I'm a prefect at Hogwarts," Hermione said. "Just got the news and my badge last week. I also received some information about the school with it. I get those kind of things now that I'm a prefect and all."  
  
"And she's bragging…" Ron said. Hermione made for his shin, but Ron dodged, knowing it was coming. Ron then looked as if he had remembered something. "Professor Linquist, I have a question."  
  
"Shoot," Linquist said.  
  
"Well, about the book 'Monsters and Myths', I'm not sure why we need it," Ron said.  
  
"I'm not getting your point," Linquist said.  
  
"Well, we already know about pretty much all the monsters in this book," Ron said. Linquist raised an eyebrow. "Why do we need this book if we know everything about it?" Linquist let his eyebrow down and seemed to think for a moment.  
  
"So you say that you know about all of the monsters in this book." Ron nodded. "And you know how to defend yourself against them?"  
  
"Well, some of them," Ron said with hesitation.  
  
"You know how to get away from them if they are too powerful?" Ron thought about this for a moment. Ron then frowned and shook his head. "You see, knowing about them is the first step. Defending yourself against them is the second. And knowing when you are over your head and how to get away is the next. That is why you need this book. It not only explains about them but how to know when you cannot defend yourself and must get away. That is what most people don't understand."  
  
"I get it now," Ron said slowly, starting to smile. "Thank you, Professor Linquist."  
  
"Anytime, kid," Linquist said. He took his hand and put it to his forehead, then whisking it away from it. "Well, I must be off. I need to get back to the school. See you kids on the flipside." He then started to leave the shop, but turned and called back "Be sure to read the book a little bit before you come to class." He then turned and, with a pop, was gone.  
  
"He seems pretty cool," Harry said, with a smile. Hermione obviously didn't think so.  
  
"He seems pretty ridiculous to me," Hermione said. Ron rolled his eyes.  
  
"Just because he's not some old wizard that acts like they know everything or Gilderoy Lockhart doesn't mean he's ridiculous," Ron said. Hermione put a hand on her hip. She would have put both but she had books in her other hand.  
  
"Anyway, Dumbledore wouldn't hire someone who was unqualified to teach," Harry said. Harry then corrected himself. "I mean unless they were the only person for the job." He had remembered how Hagrid had said that the only reason Gilderoy Lockhart had been the teacher was he was the only person for the job.  
  
"Well, unless you all want to stand here for the rest of our lives, I'm going to go up and pay for these books," Hermione said, and left them there. Harry and Ron followed her to the register and paid for their new books. As they left the store, Hermione went in one direction and they went in the other. They waved goodbye one last time and went their separate ways.  
  
Harry and Ron arrived in front of Gringotts a few minutes later. Ron's parents and Ginny were there waiting. It took about five more minutes for Fred and George to come. They waved good bye to Lee Jordan at the door of the joke shop and joined the group. As Mrs. Weasley stared into the blue flames in the Diagon Alley fireplace, she stepped in an in a moment was gone. One after another they stepped into the fire and were gone seconds later until only Mr. Weasley and Harry were left.  
  
"Go on, son," Mr. Weasley said. "I'll go last." Harry gulped and looked into the flames. He stepped forward and stepped into the fire. With a solid voice, Harry said, "The Burrow." 


	5. Percy's Wedding

Chapter 4 – Percy's Wedding

The large doors to Aviar School of Sorcery opened slowly. Damien and Professor Dawsey entered the large school, holding bags in their hands. Dawsey closed the door behind him with his left elbow and set down the bags and cage he had been holding. It had been a wonderful sunny Wednesday afternoon, and they had been out the whole time in Mayfair at Edgewood Lane, the wizarding "mall" a few miles from Sunbury, to buy Damien's new school things, which obviously seemed to be many.

"You didn't have to buy _all_ these new things," Dawsey said, wiping his sweaty forehead. The large heat from outside seemed to seep in through the doors and windows.

"I just bought a few new things," Damien said, putting down the bags he held and scratching his dark red head of hair.

"A few things?" Dawsey said. He picked up one of the bags that had been filled to the brim he had been holding and looked inside. "New ink, new parchment, new books, new robes"

"What?" Damien said. He also was starting to get hot even in the large room. "All those things are needed."

"And that's only the first bag. I swear that you think galleons grow on trees." Damien rolled his eyes, wiping his forehead. Dawsey pointed to the medium-sized eagle owl in front of him. "And what about this owl?"

"Needed." Damien went over to the owl's cage and put a finger in, which the owl nipped at affectionately. Damien smiled at it. This was the one owl that seemed to beckon him in the Owl Emporium back at Edgewood Lane. It had spread out its white-, black- and gray-feathered wings and fluttered them, as if to say, "Pick me! I'm the one!" She then let down her wings to her gray-feathered body, as if knowing I would pick her. And he did.

"And what do you call him?" Dawsey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I call _her_ Serenity," Damien said, taking his finger out of the cage. Dawsey looked into another of the bags and pulled out a necklace. It had a regular chain and a serpent on the end. It was a silver serpent in the shape of an "S". Dawsey looked at it for a moment.

"And this?" Dawsey said. Damien took the necklace from his hand and put it on. "A necklace?"

"It looks cool," Damien said, trying to ham it up. Dawsey wasn't amused.

"It wastes money," Dawsey said, picking up some of the bags. "Let's just get these bags upstairs before I remember the final balance of used money." Damien let out a short sigh and picked up the last two bags in one hand and Serenity's cage in the other. The both of them walked forward to the marble staircase in front of them and up the stairs.

*****

Harry stumbled out of the fireplace, trying not to fall while in his tuxedo. Ron stood before him, also in a tux, fixing his collar and bowtie. Harry looked around at the Castle de Amore. It didn't lie when it said castle. The place was huge with pillars almost as large. The plain-colored walls had little cupids drawn on them that moved all around. Down from the ceiling hung a medium-sized chandelier, which hung a little ways down from the ceiling.

"Come on guys," Hermione said from around the corner. When she came around they saw her in a beautiful pink dress, which extended down to her ankles. She wore her hair up in a bun, which brought out her eyes, and wore small, no heeled pink shoes. "They are gonna start anytime now and we're going to lose our seats."

They rushed down the hallway Hermione had come from and stopped at the third door down. A sign on the door said "Mr. Weasley and Ms. Clearwater" with "9:15 A.M. to 10:00 A.M." under it. They opened the door and went to the door on the right in front of them. Percy stood with his best men in the front, nervously awaiting the start of the wedding. The room was packed with relatives and friends of both parties. They moved to some seats in the front row next to Bill. Some of the chatter died down after a while and the wedding started.

As the processional started, Ginny walked down the aisle in her flower girl outfit, a beautiful pink, silk dress, looking as cute as ever. As she walked down the aisle she spread flower petals down it. When she came down to the last row she went to the right side and sat down on the edge of the front row. Exactly when she sat, Penelope and her father started down the aisle, hand in hand, with her bridesmaids behind her. People commented her long white dress as she passed.

As they got to the altar, the bridesmaids went to the left side of the altar. Penelope's father pecked her on the cheek and stood along with the best men; Fred, George, and Charlie. Penelope turned and stepped up to Percy, who had been waiting at the altar, and took his hand. Then they both turned to the minister and the processional stopped. All of the people in the congregation stood.

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the Holy Spirit be with you," the minister said.

"God is love and those who live in love live in God and God lives in them," the congregation said and sat. A reading was quoted from the bible by the minister which Harry clearly didn't understand but still said, "Amen," at the end with the rest of the congregation.

"In the presence of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we have come together to witness the marriage of Percy and Penelope, to pray for God's blessing on them, to share their joy and to celebrate their love," the minister started. He went on but harry tuned him out for a moment. He looked around him. Among the people he knew, he saw Mrs. Weasley crying her eyes out yet not making a sound. After a few minutes of looking around, Harry tuned back into the minister, who was still speaking.

"Percy and Penelope are now to enter this way of life. They will each give their consent to the other and make solemn vows, and in token of this they will each give and receive a ring. We pray with them that the Holy Spirit will guide and strengthen them, that they may fulfill God's purpose for the whole of their earthly life together." The minister paused, cleared his throat then started again.

"First, I am required to ask anyone present who knows a reason why these persons may not lawfully marry, to declare it now." The congregation stayed silent.

"The vows you are about to take are to be made in the presence of God, who is judge of all and knows all the secrets of out hearts; therefore if either of you knows a reason why you may not lawfully marry, you must declare it now." They both shook their heads. The minister told the congregation to stand and they stood.

"Who gives Penelope to be married to Percy?" the minister asked.

"Her mother and I," said Penelope's father and he sat in the front row.

"Percy, will you take Penelope to be your wife? Will you love her, comfort her, honour and protect her, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?" Percy took a deep breath and gulped.

"I will," Percy said boldly, smiling at Penelope.

"Penelope, will you take Percy to be your husband? Will you love him, comfort him, honour and protect him, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?" Penelope smiled at Percy for a second and turned back to the minister.

"I will," Penelope stated, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Will you, the families and friends of Penelope and Percy, support and uphold them in their marriage now and in the years to come?"

"We will," chanted the congregation and they sat. The next ten minutes were a blur to Harry as somehow he fell asleep. Hermione looked over to see him sleeping and nudged him awake. Harry looked into the program and noticed he had completely missed the Collect.

"Percy and Penelope, I now invite you to join hands and make your vows, in the presence of God and his people," the minister said. Percy and Penelope faced each other and took one deep breath together. Percy started his vows first.

"I, Percy, take you, Penelope, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God's holy law; in the presence of God I make this vow." Another tear slid down Penelope's face as Percy finished. She took another deep breath and started her vows.

"I, Penelope, take you, Percy, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God's holy law; in the presence of God I make this vow." Percy smiled at her. They turned back to the minister who in turn looked at them.

"Heavenly Father, by your blessing, let these rings be to Penelope and Percy a symbol of unending love and faithfulness, to remind them of the vow and covenant which they may have made this day; through Jesus Christ out Lord. Amen." Charlie took out both rings and handed one to each of them. Both rings held a small diamond in them, with Penelope's being bigger. Percy turned to Penelope, holding the ring.

"Penelope, I give you this ring as a sign of our marriage. With my body I honour you, all that I am to give to you, and all that I have to share with you within the love of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." With that, Percy slid the ring on her fourth left finger. An audible whimper of tears was heard from Mrs. Weasley. Penelope took a deep breath and started.

"Percy, I give you this ring as a sign of our marriage. With my body I honour you, all that I am to give to you, and all that I have to share with you within the love of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." With that, Penelope slid the ring she had on Percy's fourth left finger. They both turned back to the minister who smiled back at them.

"In the presence of God, and before this congregation, Penelope and Percy have given their consent and made their marriage vows to each other. They have declared their marriage by the joining of hands and by giving and receiving of the rings. Therefore, I now proclaim that they are husband and wife, wizard and witch. You may now kiss the bride." Percy and Penelope then took each other in their arms and passionately kissed. As they kissed, they seemed to float a little off the ground. When they finished, they were still floating and they walked on air back down the aisle, waving to their families. Harry smiled at them as they passed. That was the first wedding he had ever seen in his life and it was wonderful.

*****

"To think that Percy was the first to be married in our family," Bill said at the reception. "And I thought I had it good with the ladies."

"Awwshush your bloody mouth, Bill," Charlie said.

"What are you so mad about?" Bill asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I had a girl right in my grasp about a month ago, but she got transferred to this other dragon group in Bulgaria."

"Cheer up," Fred said, helping himself to some cake. "The perfect witch will come to you."

"Yeah," George said, "And I think I found her last year."

"Are you sure it's you she wants and not me," Fred said. "I do have the flair that women want. The good looks that astound them."

"We're twins you know," George said, "If you look good then I look good."

"Think whatever you want," Fred said. "I still say I have the looks." George nudged him in the side and Fred rolled his eyes.

"I am so proud of you," Mrs. Weasley said, her face drowned with tears. She was sitting next to the large cake with the two floating people on the top of it.

"Thank you, Mum," Percy said.

"And you," Mrs. Weasley said, turning to Penelope. "You can call me mother-in-law from now on." Penelope smiled and thanked her. Penelope's parents came over and hugged her and congratulated them both.

"What a beautiful wedding it was, don't you think?" Hermione said, taking a sip of her drink. They sat on the other side of the room, looking at everyone else.

"Yeah, it was okay, for my first one," Harry said, sighing. "What about you Ron?"

"I still can't believe he went through with it," Ron said. "Percy isn't the type to do this kind of stuff."

"Get over it, Ron," Hermione said. "Percy got married. It's done. There's nothing you can do about it." Ron sighed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Ron picked up his fork, dug into his piece of cake and stuck it in his mouth. Suddenly a piece of cake hit him square in the nose. "What?" He looked over to see Fred snickering. Ron took up a piece of cake and threw it his way, but someone passed in the way. It was Percy. There were gasps all over the room. Percy then turned to Ron, anger on his face.

"FOOD FIGHT!!" Percy declared loudly and threw a piece of cake in no particular direction. After a few moments, everyone was throwing cake everywhere. Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat under a table, occasionally throwing a piece or two when popping out.

"What a cool turnout for a cool wedding," Harry said as a piece of cake hit him in the face. The three of them laughed out loud and dodged more pieces of cake.


	6. Flight to London

Chapter Five – Flight to London

"Come on, Damien," Mike called from the bottom of the Boys' Dormitory stairs. Mike looked at his watch once more, seeing the time change to 4:31. It was the afternoon of August 31st and they had to catch a plane at Harrisburg International, which was an hour away from the school. "Come on, Damien! We don't want to be late for the plane!" Damien came running down the stairs, holding a box in his hands.

"Okay, I'm ready," Damien said running past him and down the main dormitory stairs. Mike ran after him, feeling almost lost. As they got to the entrance doors, Mike stopped Damien for a moment.

"Wait a minute. What's the rush all of the sudden?" Mike asked.

"What are you talking about?" Damien asked him.

"I've been calling you for 20 minutes and just now when we're about to be late you come rushing down."

"I was busy upstairs…doing something," Damien said.

"Doing what?" Mike asked. Damien sighed and looked around.

"We'd better go before we miss the plane," Damien said, trying to change the subject and open the door.

"Nice try," Mike said with a fake chuckle, shutting the door. "What were you doing?" Suddenly, footsteps could be heard in the distance. Both of them turned to see Professor Altovin standing in the entrance hall.

"You know, you had better go," Sarah said. "You don't want to miss your first day of school at Hogwarts."

"She's right," Damien said, turning to Mike. Mike sighed.

"Yes, she is," Mike said, "Get in the car." Damien smiled and ran out of the entrance door. Mike turned to Sarah and raised an eyebrow. "Where did you come from?"

"Well, you could say I overheard you two talking," Sarah said. "Go on." Mike pecked Sarah on the cheek and exited the entrance. Sarah sighed and went back down the hallway. In the car, Mike drove silently. He drove down the path and onto another dirt path. This path led them out to the street and past a moldy sign "Aviar Camping Park." As they went through the streets, they headed towards the highway and towards Harrisburg International.

*****

At the airport, Mike and Damien took up his things and went to the claim check. It was just around 6:00 P.M. and darkness was starting to fall.

"Ah, I see you're on the 6:21 flight to London," the woman said. Damien looked at her nametag, which read Claire. "Now, understand that there will be one stop on your flight. You will be stopping at Philidelphia International then transferring to your direct flight to London. The whole trip should take…" She looked on her computer. "…9 hours and 54 minutes. Now may I please take your bags to be put on the plane." Mike handed Damien's trunk and bags to her and she put some sort of tag on them before she put them on a conveyor belt. He also handed her Serenity's cage, which she handled with care.

Damien looked over at a screen marked Departures then back at his ticket. All these different flights were listed. Damien looked down the list and finally found it.

"Hey, Professor Dawsey," he said. Mike came over and looked at the screen. "We're right here." He pointed at about the 8th one down. It read "US Airways 3735 to Philidelphia Gate C3". They both smiled and headed toward the C gates. In 5 minutes, they sat right in front of Gate C3. It was now around 6:12 as Damien played with the necklace on his neck.

"You're still wearing that?" Mike asked.

"I told you, it looks cool," Damien said. Mike raised an eyebrow.

"That…looks cool?" Mike said.

"Yeah," Damien said, sitting back in the little airport chairs they had. Mike rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say," Mike said. "I'm old, what do I know."

"Enough to be a professor of transfiguration." They both chuckled at that. Silence followed for the remaining minutes to wait.

"Now boarding, Gate C3 to Philadelphia," called a woman at the gate. Both of them got up and into the line that formed for the gate. When they got to the woman, they handed her their tickets. She checked them, smiled at them and gave them back their tickets. They went down the gate and onto the airplane. This was Damien's first time on an airplane so he looked at everything as he passed. They finally got to their seats and sat down.

"Now about holding us up back at Aviar…" Mike said.

"I wasn't doing anything…" Damien said immediately. Mike squinted his eyes at him. Damien sighed. "Okay, okay. So maybe I was doing something." Mike raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I was."

"What were you doing?"

"I was prakastingmyspels," Damien mumbled.

"What? A little louder please," Mike said. Damien rolled his eyes.

"I was practicing my spells," Damien whispered to him. Mike raised both eyebrows questionably.

"You did that for 20 minutes?" Mike asked.

"I wasn't sure if I was good enough for Hogwarts," Damien said. Mike opened his mouth wide.

"Are you serious?" Mike asked, a worried look on his face. "I know you're good enough for Hogwarts, Damien."

"I know," Damien said, "It's just…" Damien paused. "It's just I don't feel like I'm good enough."

"Damien, look at me," Mike said. Damien turned up to him. "You're only as good as you think you can be. Don't forget that." Damien nodded. Just as they finished, the plane started to rev up. As the plane taxied, Damien held his breath. Moments later the plane took off into the sky towards Philadelphia and Damien held on to his seat.

*****

As they stepped out of Gate D5 forty minutes later at Philidelphia International, they went over to the luggage pick-up. It was now near 7:03 PM. They went over to another desk to confirm their flight switching and stood near the nearest departure screen. Damien pointed out that their next flight, US Airways 126, didn't leave until 8:55 so they had plenty of time to do whatever they wanted before they had to get to Gate A6.

"So, what do you want to do for an hour or so?" Mike asked. Damien made a half-smile and headed straight for the food court. "I shouldn't have asked." Mike sighed and ran after him. When both of them got there, they had so many foods to choose from. Damien looked around and immediately went in the line for a Muggle cheeseburger. Mike took out some Muggle money and gave it to him in the line before sitting at a table near the restaurant.

In a few minutes, Damien came over with a tray and sat down. It had a wrapped cheeseburger, fries, and a medium soda. He immediately unwrapped his burger and dug into it, feeling almost like he hadn't eaten in days.

"It'll still be there when you take your next bite," Mike said in a moderate tone. "Nobody's gonna take it away from you." Damien rolled his eyes, his mouth full of burger and kept chewing. After a while, Damien had finished his meal with a smile on his face.

"So, what's next?" Damien asked.

"I don't have much Muggle money, Damien," Mike said. Mike looked at the clock above the restaurant. It said 7:45. "Well, we have an hour before the next flight."

"Well, " Damien said slowly, "I thought I saw an arcade on the way to the food court…" Mike rolled his eyes.

"Okay, come on." And they both got up and went towards the way they had come.

*****

Damien turned the wheel of the "Crusin' USA" game and forced his foot down on the gas pedal. After a few moments he was in 3rd place with a yellow convertible and a green truck in front of him. Damien was used to playing these games though he hadn't in a long while. He quickly turned the wheel hard and soon was in 2nd place. Mike, who was siting beside him, turned the wheel of the car he was driving, the green truck.

"I'm gonna beat you," Damien said, as they entered the home stretch.

"Just try," Mike said playfully. Damien pressed his foot down all the way on the gas pedal.

"Eat my dust," Damien said as he sped forward on the game, passing Mike's truck. Suddenly, Damien's car crashed into an oncoming car and flipped into the air. Mike's truck did the same and landed beside Damien's. The yellow convertible went on to win the race, leaving both of them in the dust. Mike chuckled lightly.

"Fun game. But that's the last one we'll be playing. Our plane's going to start boarding in 15 minutes," Mike said, getting up from the game. Damien sighed and got up also. The both of them left the arcade and followed the signs until they reached A6. They sat for a few moments before they were called onto the plane. The man that had called them checked their tickets and let them onto the plane. They sat in their seats and waited for the plane to taxi.

"Professor Dawsey," Damien said, making Mike turn to him. "Are you sure that Hogwarts is for me?" Mike sighed.

"More than ever," Mike said, and ruffled Damien's hair. As the plane took off, Damien and Mike slid into a dreamless sleep. The plane wouldn't get to London for hours, and Damien knew that he would sleep half the way.

*****

Wormtail sat in a small chamber by himself on a small cot. He fiddled with a book in his hands. The title was unreadable from this angle but he opened it and started reading as fast as he could. He turned page after page of the large book, muttering all the time.

_"Thinks I'll take this…Flamorus Curse…I'll not be…Trecorus…Damn that…Gombitu Remidoria," Wormtail muttered as he turned page after page. Suddenly he seemed to find the page he had been looking for. "Yes! My savior! I'll get him…" Wormtail folded the corner of the page and picked up his quill. He drew a line under the curse and closed the book. He placed it under his small pillow and laid on the bed._

_He then rolled up the left sleeve of his robes to see two symbols. The one of them was the Dark Mark, which had a greenish glow about it. And another. It was in the shape of an "S". And it was a serpent._

Harry awoke with a start. He was covered in a cold sweat and breathing rather hard. Ron woke up in the bed beside his, seemingly hearing Harry awaken.

"All right there, Harry?" Ron asked him. Harry nodded but he didn't feel right. He had just had the weirdest dream. It had something about Wormtail and the last thing he remembered was something about a serpent. Harry shook his head and rubbed his temples. Maybe it didn't mean anything. His scar didn't hurt so maybe…maybe this time it wasn't anything.

After he assured himself it was nothing, he got up and went straight to the bathroom to shower. When he had finished, there seemed to be a line outside of the bathroom door. Harry exited in a towel to let Ron in and went back to Ron's room to put on some clothes. It wasn't long before Ron had come back and started putting on his clothes. In an hour's time, pretty much everyone had showered and gotten clothed.

Harry checked for the third time that he had all of his things packed before taking his stuff downstairs and helping put the trunks in the Ford Anglia, which they recently got back from Hogwarts because it was found there. Once everyone's trunks were packed, they all packed themselves into the car. It seemed like the car was stretching out for them, but of course, Mr. Weasley wouldn't admit to putting that many spells on this car. Harry sat back in his seat, held Hedwig's cage in his hands, and waited out the ride to King's Cross.

*****

Damien shook his head vigorously, as he awoke from his long sleep. Mike, who was still asleep, flinched at his awaking. Damien looked over at Mike's watch and looked at the time. It was 8:50 AM. He thought for a moment then remembered that the plane was supposed to land at 9:15 or so. But his second-thoughts were catching up to him. Should he really go to Hogwarts? Was he Hogwarts _material?_

He was okay, but Hogwarts sounded like big business. Even the name seemed to make it big: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But what qualification did he have? Last year he had turned one of the students in Transfiguration into a warty toad instead of the plate in front of him. Also, he melted at least one cauldron per year. In his first year, he melted his first one in the first week. At least his teacher for Potions was forgiving and nice. He hoped Hogwarts had the same.

But what did he have to worry about. Professor Dawsey told him that he could do anything at the school. Just don't get expelled. Ha! Him expelled. Well, it _could happen. But it's not likely. Damien can be extreme, but he knows just when to stop. At that moment, the plane started to shake a little. As the plane shook, Professor Dawsey stirred. His eyes fluttered open and he yawned._

"What time is it?" Mike asked.

"Nearly time we'll land in London," Damien said. Mike looked at his watch. It now said 9:11. Then the stewardess went on the intercom of the plane.

"Hello, passengers," the woman said, "Thank you for flying US Airways. We will be arriving shortly at London International. Please don't panic as we might experience some turbulence as we land. Thank you." The plane did shake a bit but it wasn't much to worry about. As the plane touched down, Damien took a deep breath and waited for the plane to stop.

When the plane came to a complete stop, Damien and Professor Dawsey got up from their seats, just like everyone else. They were near the back of the plane so they had a time to wait before they got off the plane and to the gate. This airport seemed to be a lot bigger and more active than the others they had been at. They immediately went over to the baggage claim and got Damien's things. They had to go over to Pet Claim to get Serenity before they went to near the front door. They looked around but people were moving too fast. Mike then spotted a security guard near the door.

"Sir," Mike said. "Can you please tell me how you get a cab?" The man looked at him then smiled.

"Quite, sir," said the guard, "The cabs are just around the corner. Where are you trying to get to?"

"King's Cross Train Station," Mike said.

"Ah. You don't need a cab for that," the man said. "That's not even 15 minutes away. I'll get me friend to give you a lift." He took up his walkie-talkie and talked into it. "Terry, can I get you to help me with something?" The walkie-talkie answered "Yes, sir." After a few minutes, a skinny man with blonde hair came up to them. He was in uniform.

"Yes, sir?" Terry said.

"Take these people to King's Cross," the first man said.

"Oh no, just the boy and his things," Mike said quickly.

"Yes," the first man said. "Quite."

"Right this way," Terry said.

"One moment please," Mike said and pulled Damien aside. "Damien, I know I sort of pulled you into this, but I want you to know that you know to write me whenever you want. I'm gonna miss you, you know."

"Yeah, I'll miss you, too," Damien said and gave him a hug. It only lasted for a moment though. "Well, I'll see you whenever." Damien went off and followed Terry, waving to Professor Dawsey as he left him to go someplace and Apparate back to Aviar.

When they got to the car, Damien packed in all his things and sat with Serenity on his lap as they left the airport and went down a few streets. In minutes they got to King's Cross Train Station, where almost as many people were entering and exiting as the airport.

"Have a good day," Terry said, as he drove off, leaving Damien in front of the station. Damien sat there for a moment, then looked down to a chirping Serenity in her cage.

"Don't worry, girl, You'll be out of that cage soon enough…" Damien said, and started to haul his trunk up and into the train station. "But first, let's have a look around." Damien looked around and saw some carts. He placed Serenity's cage down and lugged his trunk onto one. He piled his things and Serenity's cage on top of it. After starting to push the cart, he noticed this was a better way. He looked around for a clock and found one in between platforms 1 and 2. It was now 9:45. He had about an hour to find…he didn't know what he was supposed to be finding.

He took out his ticket and looked at the platform. It said "Platform 9 ¾". What? 9 ¾? Was there such a thing? Now he felt that he needed to find the platform, and fast. He didn't care how long he waited, as long as he was sure that this wasn't some joke. He moved along the top bridge looking at the platforms pass. Platform 5, platform 6, 7, 8…and there was 9 and 10. No 9 ¾. This was probably something like how Aviar's entrance trail couldn't be seen by Muggles, but he was pretty sure he didn't see anything different.

Maybe it was just you couldn't see it from afar. Damien pushed his cart down a ramp and towards platforms 9 and 10. He still didn't see anything. When he got closer he looked around even more and still didn't see anything. He saw an information person up ahead and went his way.

"Excuse me, sir," Damien said, "But could you direct me to…Platform 9 ¾?" The man just gave him a stern look.

"Another funny man," he said and started to walk away. "I swear there's a few of those every year. Makes me wonder about this 9 ¾ business…" He muttered more as he walked farther away. He asked a few more people who all seemed to ignore him and walk away. He walked away from platforms 9 and 10, thinking that someone would call the police on him and take him away to an asylum. All the while he wondered where this so-called Platform 9 ¾ was.

*****

"We're here," Mr. Weasley said as the Ford Anglia came to a stop. All of them filed out of the car and started taking out their things from the trunk. Pigwidgeon was fluttering around in her cage, hooting and hollering.

"Quiet down, Pig," Ron said to his owl as he exited the car. "I'm not letting you out 'till we get on the train. Now shut up!" Ron had never really liked Pig. He had always been just too giddy and too annoying. But Ron was stuck with him. Because Errol was on death row and Hermes (Percy's owl) wouldn't deliver for anyone but Percy. Ron had tried one night to send a letter with Hermes but all he did was upturn his nose and peck at Ron's hand.

Bill and Charlie picked the last trunk out of the car and closed it. Mr. Weasley waved goodbye to everyone and drove off back towards the Burrow. The bigger brothers helped lug the trunks onto carts and went along inside with them. King's Cross Train station looked as busy as ever.

"Race ya to the platform," Harry said to Ron quickly.

"Eat my dust," Ron said, racing after him. Mrs. Weasley chuckled as they sped off.

"They grow up so fast," she said. "Then they leave you behind." She then turned sternly to Fred and George. "Now, this is your last year at this school. Make it the best, but _no funny business." Fred and George looked at her, shocked._

"Our own mother," Fred said. "Thinking that we'd do something funny!"

"The nerve of it all," George said. "And I thought she trusted us." They both shook their heads in fake sorrow. Mrs. Weasley didn't buy it for a minute.

"I mean it! _Nothing!" she said more sternly._

"All right, Mum," Fred said. "Don't have a cow." And they all moved briskly after the speeding Harry and Ron.


	7. Hogwarts Express

Chapter Six – Hogwarts Express

"Yes! I beat you," Harry called behind him as he slowed his cart down. He was followed by Ron with his cart and the rest of the Weasley family minus Percy. 

"Lucky bastard!" Ron said. "Anyway, you had a head start."

"Oh well," Harry said with a chuckle and pushed his cart between the big gap between platforms 9 and 10.

"Hey! I want to go first," Ron said and chuckled. At that, Harry ran at the barrier and went right through to Platform 9 ¾. Ron made a half-smile. Harry and him had always been friends. Even in the bad times, he and Harry had always made it through. Sometimes he questioned the way he did it, but they always made it.

Then there was Hermione. He almost always questioned what Hermione did. In his mind she was as mad as a hatter, and as smart as a Hogwarts graduate. But somehow, she always got with him and Harry. And in some respects, he wouldn't mind asking her out. But to him, she practically was a maze that never ends. He shook his head for a moment, noticing that he had been staring into space for a few seconds. He waved goodbye to everyone, took a deep breath and ran for the barrier, passing through to the platform and almost into a person standing in the way.

"Watch where you're going, Weasley," Draco Malfoy said in a drawling voice. "You wouldn't want to get in a fight with me."

"In fact, I think I might…"

"Lay off, Malfoy," said Hermione from behind Malfoy. He turned around and glared at her.

"Looks like you need that Mudblood of a friend of yours to fight your battles, Weasley. How droll." Malfoy snickered as he walked away towards the train. Ron glared as he left, then looked over to Hermione.

"You didn't have to do that," Ron said and went off towards the train, as Draco had done. Hermione sighed and went after him.

*****

Damien came back over to the platforms, hoping that someone would know how to get onto the platform or he would miss his train as two red-haired boys ran towards a barrier in the middle of platforms 9 and 10. Damien closed his eyes, fearing the loud crash. When nothing happened he opened his eyes to see that they had vanished. When he saw a woman smiling at the barrier they had run at, he went over to her.

"Excuse me, ma'am," he said tapping her on her shoulder. She turned to him with a smile still on her face. "This may sound like a crazy question but…do you know how to get to Platform 9 ¾?" To his surprise, she smiled at him.

"Of course dear, you can go after my daughter, Ginny," she said, gesturing to the little girl beside her. Ginny smiled and took a deep breath. She then took off towards the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. What a crazy thing to do. Why crash into a barrier to get to a platform? Suddenly, she got to the barrier and went right through. Damien had to do a double take before he believed it.

"Did she just…?" Damien asked.

"Now, just run right through the barrier," the woman said. Through? Did she say _through the barrier? "Don't look back and don't be scared or you'll run right into it. Best do it at a run." Was this woman crazy or what? Run into a wall like you don't care? Damien smiled weakly at her and positioned himself in front of the barrier. He took a large deep breath and started towards the barrier. He got faster as he got closer. He ran faster as the barrier came up. He almost found himself being scared before he hit the barrier. But it never came._

Suddenly, Damien found himself on a platform like no other. There were many people around getting on the train and telling their parents goodbye. He saw a sign saying "Platform 9 ¾" near a wall. He was so amazed at the station and big red steam engine train that he didn't realize that he was still moving. Suddenly…CRASH!!

He flew into the air a little ways and landed right next to his fallen cart. When he got up, he noticed he had slammed into someone else's cart as they had been talking to, what looked like, his grandmother.

"Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry," Damien started saying, as he got up.

"Neville, I thought I told you to keep your cart out of the way of others," his grandmother scolded him. Neville sulked down, taking the abuse.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," Damien interrupted, "But it was all my fault. I was going too fast with my cart. It's not his fault." She looked at Damien for a moment, then at Neville, who seemed to be shaking uncontrollably.

"Well, thank you for your honesty," the woman said. "I guess I shouldn't have yelled at you, Neville." With that she pecked him on the cheek and started to leave. 

"Sorry about that."

"It's okay, I'm used to it by now," Neville said, starting to pick up his things and put them back on his cart. Damien started to do the same.

"I'm Damien Finch," he said, extending a palm. Neville took it and shook it.

"Neville Longbottom." Damien smiled at him. "Hey, are you a yank?"

"A what?"

"Sorry. American. A transfer student." Damien nodded. Neville smiled. "I thought I had never seen you at Hogwarts before. Have you been sorted already?" Damien gave him a weird look and shook his head.

"Sorted? What do you mean 'sorted'?" Neville got up and pushed his cart over to a person that took it to the cargo compartment. Damien did the same and followed Neville onto the train, while he explained the sorting and the houses.

"I'm in Gryffindor," Neville ended, "They say it's the best house at Hogwarts."

"Sounds like a great thing they got," Damien said, sitting down next to Neville in the compartment.

"Yeah, but I don't know why I was picked for Gryffindor, though," Neville mummered. Damien looked shocked.

"Why? You seem like nice enough a person."

"Well, I do show some things that make me think I belong but…but I just think I'm too cowardly and bumbling to be in Gryffindor." Damien widened his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Don't think like that, Neville," Damien said. He thought for a moment then remembered something. "You're only as good as you think you can be. Don't forget that. If you think you can be brave, then you can be brave." Neville smiled at him.

"Thanks," Neville said, "I think I'm gonna like having you at Hogwarts." Damien chuckled and patted Neville on the back. Neville didn't seem that bad. He just needed a spark to catch flame, that's all.

*****

Harry sat back in his seat and yawned as the train started up. He didn't feel as if he had gotten enough sleep last night. It had also been egging him all summer about Cedric's death. And it was all his fault. Or so he thought. He kept thinking there was something he could have done, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt guilty. Ron seemed to notice his bad mood.

"All right there, Harry?" Ron asked patting him on the back.

"Yeah," Harry lied and smiled weakly.

"You don't look so good," Hermione said, looking over the brim of the book she was reading, _A Guide to Transfiguration, Grade 5._

"Do you have to read all the time?" Ron asked sarcastically. Hermione glared at him at went back to reading her book. There was something about them that Harry just couldn't put his finger on. All of them had been friends for as long as they had been in school, but they had always fought. He was most times in the middle of it all. Sometimes he wondered if they had a feeling inside wanting to snog each other passionately. Then he snickered audibly. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, Ron, just nothing," Harry said and stopped laughing. The snack trolley came through and the woman looked straight at Harry.

"Oh, Mr. Potter, what would you like today?" she asked in a sweet tone. Harry smiled at her.

"Just the usual," Harry said cheerily. Harry took out his small bag of money and took out about 15 galleons. She took the money and unloaded most of the candy from the cart. She smiled one more time and moved along. "She a sweet lady." Ron immediately reached over and picked up a chocolate frog. He opened it and the frog tried to jump away, but he took it and bit his head off. Suddenly, he looked at the card he got and dropped the headless frog.

"Agrippa!!" he shouted triumphantly and the old witch in the card smiled at him.

*****

"Yes!" Damien cried triumphantly. He had just gotten the one Famous Wizards and Witches card that he was looking for: Agrippa. He had been looking for it for months now. It didn't complete his collection but he still got it finally. Neville chuckled beside him.

"Find a card you were looking for?" Neville asked. Damien nodded and put the card in his pocket.

"But you're pretty cool, Neville," Damien said. Neville widened his eyes.

"Cool? _Me?" Neville asked._

"Of course, you aren't," said an unwelcome voice. Damien turned to see a pale boy with silvery hair and grey eyes staring over at them. Behind him were two large musclebound, yet fat kids. Damien could tell they were practically his "henchmen".

"And who are _you to say who's cool?" Damien asked him, getting up from his seat. Draco looked him over, sneering._

"Draco Malfoy," the boy spat. "And I don't seem to know _your name?"_

"That's because I never said it. But for your information, it's Damien. Damien Finch." Malfoy chuckled. His friends seemed to chuckle with him.

"Finch, eh?" Draco said. "I've never seen you at Hogwarts before. What are you doing here?"

"That's none of your business, Darco," Damien said, getting into his face.

"That's Draco, you twit," he said, and pushed him away. Damien looked at him with anger, wanting to punch his face in. "And you obviously don't know anything about Neville Longbottom."

"What's there to know? He's a better person than you are," Damien said, glaring. Draco glared back at him. The two goons behind him stepped forward, but Draco pushed them back.

"You obviously need to learn some manners, boy," Draco said into his face. Damien pushed him out of his face and wafted a hand over his nose.

"And you obviously need a Tic-tac," Damien said, sitting back down. Draco looked at him blankly, not knowing what a Tic-tac was. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like you to leave, Darco." Draco opened his mouth to say something then closed it a moment later. He made an enraged look at Damien who only raised an eyebrow. After that, Draco motioned his goons behind him and left the compartment. "What an ugly guy."

Neville just sat there shocked.

"You just stood up to Draco Malfoy," Neville said with admiration.

"Yeah, so," Damien said, taking out a Pumpkin Pasty and biting into it. Neville looked amazed at him. Damien chuckled at the thought of Neville doing so. He had gone through worse troubles than Darco Malfoy and his goons, so it was easy. If that's the worse this school had to offer, then he had nothing to worry about.

*****

Ron took another bite into the Licorice Wand he hand been eating and tasted its gooey goodness in his mouth. Suddenly, the door to the compartment busted open. In came Draco Malfoy, the silver-haired boy that everyone hated with an angry look on his face.

"What's wrong, Draco?" Ron asked, "Get in a fight with a mirror and lose?"

"Shove it, Weasley," Draco spat at him. Ron looked weirdly at him. Draco passed right by them and went on to the next compartment.

"What's his problem?" Ron asked.

"What's not his problem?" Harry said, chuckling.

"I'm serious," Ron said. Harry stopped chuckling. "He seemed really mad about something. I wonder who told him off."

"He needs someone to tell him off," Harry said.

"Be fair," Hermione said. "I thought I saw him crying."

"He needs to let out some tears one of these days. And why are you thinking about him all of the sudden?" Ron said.

"Why are _you?" Hermione said glaring. Ron glared back. Hermione rolled her eyes then looked at her watch. "Oh, goodness, it's getting late. And I think we're nearing Hogwarts. I'm gonna go get changed. You two should do the same." With that, she got up and left the compartment, leaving them alone. Harry and Ron both shrugged and started to change their clothes into their robes._

*****

Damien pulled his robes over his head, and that was when he saw it around the bend. It was beautiful. There were more towers than he could count and it was much bigger than he had imagined. There were so many windows that he couldn't count them all. It was like a castle from a fairy tale. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, his new school.

"Wow," was all he could say. Neville looked up as he finished with his robes and looked out the window, noticing the school.

"It's not that bad a school," Neville said, fixing his red and yellow striped tie. Damien made a weak smile at him and pulled down the rest of his robes as the train stopped. He was finally at Hogwarts. He made a sigh and went over to the door, opening it to see the crowds of kids heading outside.


	8. The Prophecy Returns

Chapter Seven – The Prophecy Returns

Damien came out of the train looking around. He saw a sign hanging on a wall saying "Hogsmeade Station." What an interesting place this was to him. He then saw some kind of giant walk past him.

"Firs' years, this way! This way firs' years!" he shouted over the crowds. Neville came out of the train behind Damien and smiled up to him.

"Hi there, Hagrid," Neville said weakly. Hagrid turn to him as many young ones came up to him.

"Hello there, Neville," Hagrid said and turned back to the group in front of him. Neville tugged on Damien's arm and moved him over to the side.

"What was that?" Damien asked. Neville smirked.

"Oh, that's just Hagrid. He's the groundskeeper and also teaches Care of Magical Creatures. Come on this way." Neville pulled Damien towards the waiting carriages. Damien willingly followed him into a carriage, not knowing where it was going but sitting there none the less.

*****

Harry, Hermione, and Ron all got off at the same time to greet Hagrid, who had been taking the first years to the boats at the Black Lake. All the carriages had almost been taken when they found one up in the front with Neville and a darkish red-haired boy. They immediately went inside as the carriages started for Hogwarts. Moments after they settled down, Harry notice the new kid and eyed him.

"Hello," he said, "I'm Harry Potter." The boy looked up at him but didn't smile.

"I'm Damien. Damien Finch," he said, but then did a double-take. "Wait a minute. Harry Potter. Aren't you famous for something?"

"You're the only one that doesn't know…" Harry said. "I 'saved the wizarding world from You-Know-Who." He said this while flexing his fingers up and down.

"Oh yeah, congratulations," Damien said and started staring at the floor of the carriage. Harry raised an eyebrow at him.

"You don't care much about it?" Harry asked.

"Don't patronize him because he doesn't think you're a god, Harry," Hermione said. "Hermione Granger, prefect." She held up her badge to Damien as she said it. Damien then turned to Ron, who was eating another Pumpkin Pasty.

"And you?" Damien asked.

"Rbon Bleasmey," Ron said through filled cheeks. Hermione kicked him in the shin. "Hey!" Ron said, some bits of the food flying out of his mouth.

"Don't mind him," Hermione said, and Damien chuckled. "He's Ron Weasley."

"Great to meet all of you," he said. "And this is…"

"Neville!" Hermione said, "Where's your toad, Trevor?"

"I left him at home, I think," Neville said. "I wanted to keep him there, not to be a bother this year."

"I see you already know him," Damien said.

"He's in our house," Harry said. Damien nodded and turned to look out of the carriage. "Looks like we're getting close to the school." Harry suddenly was attracted to the thing around Damien's neck. It had a serpent in the shape of an "S" on the end. "Cool necklace." Damien chuckled and thanked him. 

The carriages rounded in front of the school entrance until they came to a stop. All of the students poured out of the carriages and into the school. They all came from their carriage in the front and went inside. The walls were larger than they seemed to show from the outside, but they always were. The crowds of people went inside the entrance hallway and immediately entered the Great Hall. Damien seemed amazed with everything around him, like he was in some type of museum.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron went over to the Gryffindor table while Neville stayed and talked for a moment with Damien. Harry looked at Damien for a second with wonderment.

"Have you two seen anything…strange about Damien?" Harry asked.

"No," Hermione said. "What about him?"

"I don't know," Harry said. "I just have this _feeling that there's something about him."_

"He seems all right to me," Ron said. "Maybe it's just some déjà vu."

"Maybe," Harry said as Neville came over and sat down.

*****

Damien stood in the middle of the entranceway with Neville for a moment, just looking around as people passed them.

"So what do you think?"

"Not too bad…_yet," Damien said with a chuckle. Damien looked all around for a moment then looked over at the teachers at the Head Table. "Who's that one in the middle at the table?"_

"Oh, that's Dumbledore. The headmaster," Neville said. Damien then remembered him from the Famous Witches and Wizards card. He looked a bit older than his picture but the same none the less. Damien moved his vision down the line of teachers until he came to an unsightly looking one.

"Who's that?" Damien pointed at the third one on the left. Neville shuddered when he saw it.

"That's Professor Snape," Neville seemed to whisper. "He teaches Potions. Frightens the hell out of me." Oh no. Just what he had feared. Oh well, he had to deal with it now that he was here.

"Transfers! Could all transfers come up here please?" said an old witch near the front, speaking very good English. Damien waved goodbye to Neville and went up to the front of the room. There were about 20 transfers, not including him.

"I have little time to speak to you, so I shall speak quickly," the woman said, "I am Professor McGonagall. After the first years, you will be sorted into four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Now, if you will please be seated in these chairs." She pointed to the chairs at the front. All of them sat, Damien being on the end of the first row.

Damien looked to see who he was sitting next to and found it had to be someone who was part veela. Damien cringed then looked at the table in front of him. Above it hung the drapes of a snake with a green and silver background. He looked over at the last person on the table. It was a beautiful blonde haired girl with black eyes like small pebbles and lips that were full and perfect. She was _hot! _

Then she turned to see Damien staring at her. Damien then did the first thing he could think of doing, he winked at her. She then turned red in the face and Damien chuckled because he liked it. He didn't know why, but he liked it.

"What's your name?" he asked her, leaning out of his chair.

"Blaise. Blaise Zabini…" but she was interrupted by a nudge from the boy next to her. Good ol' Darco Malfoy. What a way to end a great moment. Darco glared at him with an icy glare then turned back to talking to his friends. Boy would he like to take his fist and give Darco one good punch right in the…

Silence went into the room as the first years entered through the front doors of the Great Hall. Heads turned to see them walking down the aisle to the front of the room. McGonagall stopped them right at the front of the room beside the chairs and placed down a tattered old hat on a stool. What was the hat for? He soon knew. A rip the hat opened and it started to sing.

_For those of you that do not know,_

_I am the Sorting Hat,_

_What I do is sort you,_

_Into houses and that is that._

_You may think you know where you go,_

_But I assure you I am right,_

_When I say the house that is yours,_

_To your fear or delight._

_The Founders' Four who created me,_

_Each one did have a house,_

_To which you go, I do not know,_

_But I soon will announce._

_To Gryffindor go the brave at heart,_

_The ones who stand their ground,_

_To Hufflepuff go the smart,_

_They use their brains to astound,_

_To Ravenclaw the wise will stay,_

_Using logic in many ways,_

_To Slytherin the cunning thrive,_

_Planning more through all the days._

_So try me on and I will do,_

_What I can do best,_

_To find the house that suits you,_

_Are you ready for the test?_

The whole room roared in applause. Damien joined in a moment later. Sorted by a hat. An old hat at that. And now he wondered what house he'd be good for. Maybe Gryffindor. Or maybe Slytherin. He didn't know for sure.

"When I call your name, can you please come up and sit on the stool?" McGonagall said. "I will then put the hat on your head and it will tell your house." Damien sighed. That was a relief. At least the hat didn't talk to you or something. "Applegate, Yolanda." A small girl with frizzy red hair stepped up to the stool. McGonagall placed the hat on her head. In a few moments the hat called. "HUFFLEPUFF!" The girl got up from the chair and headed over to the table applauding.

"Boone, Frederick." A larger boy with messy hair and green eyes pushed through the crowd of first years and to the stool. Almost even before the hat was on his head it cried "SLYTHERIN!" The boy smirked as he went over the applauding table. The same table where Draco was sitting. Now he knew he didn't want to be a Slytherin.

And so the ceremony went on from "Cerce, Michael" who became a Ravenclaw all the way down to "Yero, Tabitha" who became a Slytherin.

"And now we shall sort our transfers," McGonagall said. She then turned to the group. "Aravil, Montane." The boy behind Damien got up from his seat and sat on the stool. She placed the hat on his head and stepped back. In a few moments it called "GRYFFINDOR!" He smiled as he got up and went over to sit next to the new first years.

"Camboden, Samuel." A boy from the back seats got up and went to sit on the stool. Almost as the hat touched his head, it called. "RAVENCLAW!" He got up and headed over to the table.

"Darley, Sinestra." She got up and became a Hufflepuff. Her twin sister, "Darley, Sinsestra" went to Gryffindor. Then came…

"Finch, Damien." Damien took a deep breath and got up. He walked past the other people still sitting and up to the stool slowly. As he sat on the stool, McGonagall put the hat on his head, which actually went over his eyes. He sat there for a moment feeling nothing and looking into darkness.

"_Hmm…" came a little voice in his ear._

Huh, he thought. What was that?

"_Me. The Sorting Hat, of course," the voice replied. "__Now for your house…oh, difficult. Very nice mind, oh, and a will to prove himself. Oh, and smart as a whip, I see."_

I guess a whip isn't very smart, then, he thought.

"_Don't put yourself down. You are as smart as they can get. Oh, and what's this. A spot of bravery there in the back of your mind. Hidden so far under, but I can still see it. Now, for your house. Oh, goodness, me. I feel…oh, no…I'm forced to say it…GRIZZELWOOD!"_

The whole room fell silent.

Grizzelwood. The hat had said Grizzelwood. That wasn't one of the four they had said. What in the hell was Grizzelwood? Gasps could be heard from all over the room. Damien peeked out from under the hat to see all mouths gaped open at him. Then Dumbledore stood.

"It seems that the Sorting Hat has made its first mistake…ever," Dumbledore said. "Mr. Finch will be re-sorted into one of the four houses." He then sat and Damien sat back in his chair facing the students. He let the hat sit over his eyes again.

"_Oh, I spoke too soon. I said that out of nowhere. I know where to put you."_

Please just not Slytherin, Damien thought.

"_Oh, and what's wrong with Slytherin. It is like Grizzelwood, in some respects."_

What is Grizzelwood? Why am I for it? Tell me, Damien thought quickly.

"_Alas, I cannot tell you that. But if you do not agree with Slytherin, there is only one place for you…GRYFFINDOR!" The last word was shouted to the audience, but the people at the table didn't give as much an applause as others had gotten. The only person who really applauded was Neville. Damien got up from the stool and sat next to Neville._

"Great job," Neville said. "What was all that Grizzelwood stuff about?"

"I don't know," Damien said. Neville shrugged and looked over to some other people. What did all the Grizzelwood stuff mean? He didn't know but the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to know.

*****

Harry, Hermione, and Ron applauded weakly as Damien came over to their table and sat next to Neville. What was it with this Grizzelwood thing? Harry had never heard of such a house. And why did it have to be Damien to go there? Harry had never heard of anyone else being called to this _Grizzelwood._

"Hermione," Harry said, turning to her. "Do you know anything about Grizzelwood?"

"I'm just as puzzled as you are, Harry," she replied.

"Now, I'm sort of getting your drift, Harry," Ron said, staring at Damien weirdly. "There's just something about him." Harry nodded.

"What do you two think your doing?" Hermione said, making them focus on her. "You're stereotyping him. You know that, don't you?"

"Aw, quiet down, Hermione," Ron said. "I have a feeling that something's fishy, and I don't smell any fish." Hermione rolled her eyes then looked up to the Head Table. Dumbledore stood and the whole room went silent.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Now let the start-of-term banquet…begin!" Suddenly, all of the plates filled with food of all kinds. Ron, being the person he was, dug right into the food and ate whatever he could find in front of him. Harry chuckled and dug in also. At least he had been being fed this summer, but he still ate quite a lot.

*****

Voldemort and Wormtail sat in his chamber in silence for a few moments. Then Voldemort stood.

"Now is the time," he spoke. Wormtail said nothing. He just watched in agreement. Voldemort made a half-smile and took a few steps forward. He cleared his throat and took out his wand. He closed his eyes and pointed outward his wand. "_Aurilia Serpentum Slavocus!" A long green light came out of his wand and swirled into a circle in mid-air. Voldemort held his ground, not blinking, as the swirling green came into a doll-like stance. The doll glowed red and still hung in mid-air. As Voldemort waited for the doll to turn green, he stood unmovingly._

*****

Damien took a bite into some chicken and suddenly felt weird. He looked around at the people around him, almost feeling ill.

"Neville, where's the nearest bathroom?" he asked. Neville swallowed the food in his mouth.

"Just around the corner…" Neville said and Damien ran out of the room. "…But that's the Girl's Bathroom…"

Damien ran around the corner and down the hallway to see the bathroom in front of him. He entered it to find that it was the girl's bathroom. And to hear crying from the third stool down. But that wasn't interesting him right now. His ill feeling had turned to a pain in his head, like a headache. He clamored into one of the sinks and knocked over a piece of soap from it. He held a hand to his head in pain and got up from the sink.

He suddenly felt like a heat wave had taken over him and threw off his robe. He seemed to be getting hotter and hotter, so he took off his shirt and threw it to the floor. Now bare-chested with his necklace on, he seemed to start to choke. He took off his necklace, but for some reason didn't throw it to the floor. He started pacing as he choked.

Suddenly, he slipped on the soap he had thrown on the floor and fell to the ground, the necklace getting thrown up from his hand. As the serpent on the necklace landed on his upper arm, the choking and heat went away. He now felt extreme pain as the serpent seemed to burn into the skin of his left arm. He cried out in pain for a moment then threw the necklace from his arm. He sat there on the ground recovering for a moment. When he did get up, he noticed that there was a ghost with tears weld up in its eyes standing over him.

"What are you looking at?" Damien asked. The ghost then looked shocked and went floating out of the bathroom. Damien rubbed his head for a moment trying to get what just happened into focus. Then he remembered the burning. He looked at his arm and saw the serpent embedded into his arm. He took his arm, picked up the piece of soap from the floor, turned on the water and started scrubbing at it.

It wouldn't come off.

It was like it was actually burned there. Damien picked up his shirt from the ground and pulled it on. He searched the floor of the bathroom until he found the necklace sitting on the floor. He cautiously touched it quickly with the tip of his finger, but it didn't burn. He did that a few more times longer and longer until he held it firmly in his hand. It wasn't hot. It wasn't even warm. It was stone cold.

He picked himself up from the floor and pocketed the necklace. He picked up his robes and pulled them over his head pulling them down and poking his head out. He let his arms come through the appropriate holes and started to leave the bathroom. He was stopped by a girl entering the bathroom. She gasped as they met eyes.

"What were you…?" the girl said.

"It's not what you think…" he interrupted her. "I couldn't find the boy's bathroom." She opened the door to the bathroom and pointed to the other end of the hallway. He smacked himself in the head, not seeing the boy's bathroom when he came down the hallway. "Stupid me. Oh, well. Oh, and could you…keep quiet about this? Don't want it getting out that I was in the…girl's bathroom." She giggled and nodded. He said goodbye.

"Goodbye, Bathroom boy." He rolled his eyes as he left. Now he had a new nickname from a girl he didn't even know. What a great start of the year.

*****

Voldemort still stood and awaited the doll, when it turned green and started to float downward. Voldemort smiled and took up the doll in his hand. "Wormtail."

"Yes, my lord," Wormtail said. Voldemort turned and glared at him. He didn't seem scared enough, like he usually was. Something was wrong. But Wormtail quivered into his usual stance and Voldemort released his glare.

"Make note that Phase I of my plan has been taken into action."

"Yes, my lord," Wormtail said and exited the room. Voldemort sat on his throne for a moment, thinking. Why had he been sent a vibe that Wormtail was not himself? But of course, what was his problem? Wormtail only did what he was told. He never would be unfaithful. Voldemort sat smugly, thinking this over and over. How wrong he was.

*****

Damien entered the Great Hall yet again and noticed that the feast was just about to end. Dumbledore, with a waft of his hand, cleared all the plates just as Damien sat down. Damien preferred not to say anything about the marking on his arm. Sometimes people who had stuff like that got questioned about it and got sent to places and…he just didn't want to be in that kind of position.

"Before I send all of you to your houses, there are some start of term notices that need to be announced," Dumbledore said, standing. "First years and new students are to note that the dark forest is forbidden to all students.

"Mr. Filch, our caretaker, is also again requesting that no magic be used between classes in the corridors or serious consequences will be upheld." Damien looked near the entrance doors at an unsightly looking man in rags with dirt all on him standing next to a cat. He had thinning hair and was missing many of his teeth.

"Also, there will be some minor construction on the fifth floor. There is no reason for any suspicion because we are just trying to add on to the school. So could all students please try to stay away from it." Some of the students snickered after he said it and he glared down, getting silence back into the room.

"Lastly, I would like us to give one last moment of silence for a student that will not be attending our school…again." All heads turned toward a decorated shrine above the entranceway with a picture of a smiling boy that looked the age of 14 or so. A name was embedded under it. Cedric Amos Diggory: 1977-1995. Silence followed for a minute while everyone made one last moment to think about Cedric.

Suddenly, a witch from the Head Table stood from her seat, her eyes closed. "Professor Trelawney…what in blazes…?" Albus said, but she interrupted him.

"_15 years have come and gone,_

_The Dark Lord now ready to spawn,_

_His servant now chosen, he will arise,_

_Striking fear upon waiting eyes,_

_Using power unimaginable, they will rule,_

_Unless a life is taken, leaving a bloody pool,_

_All Hogwarts fear, for the servant is near,_

_And the wrath of its master will soon appear."_

As the witch ended, she crumpled to the floor. All of the people in the room just seemed to stare. A dead silence only stayed for a moment in the room before an enormous amount of chatter filled the room. A moment later the room returned to silence as Dumbledore put up a hand.

"All students are to follow your prefects to your houses immediately," Dumbledore said. "Hagrid, can you take Professor Trelawney to the Hospital Wing?" The large man nodded and picked up the woman, taking her out of the room. "Professor McGonagall, my office. All other teachers to your rooms. You have your orders." After he finished, everyone moved quickly out of the room.

"Everyone follow me, and move quickly," Hermione said, leading the group with the other prefects. "We don't want anyone getting lost, especially first years. Oh, and watch out for the staircases. They like changing. Let's move it." They all quickly headed up a few staircases and down some hallways. When they finally stopped for a moment, it was in front of a portrait of a rather large woman in a white dress.

"Password?" the woman asked. "Hogswash," said Hermione. The woman in the portrait bowed her head and the portrait she was in swung aside to show a passageway. All of them filed through the passageway and into the room ahead. Most of the people looked like they knew where they were supposed to be going, so they went around the group of staring first years and transfers. Someone put a hand on Damien's shoulder and he turned to see Neville standing behind him.

"You're a fifth year, right?" Neville asked him. Damien nodded. "Follow me." Damien did as he was told and followed Neville up the left staircase (or was it right?) and up a few doors until they came to a door marked "5th years". Neville pushed the door open and saw that two of the boys had already made it to the room. There were seven four-posters in the room and they all had people's belongings next to them. "Looks like you're bed's in between mine and Harry's."

"Yeah," Damien said, going over to it. He quickly changed into something to sleep in and leapt into his bed. He felt sleep coming over him, but questions still were about his head. What was with the "tattoo" on his arm? And what was with the cryptic message this evening? Somehow he knew that all of this would come into focus soon. But he wished soon would come sooner. With that thought, he fell into a sound, dreamless sleep.

*****

Dumbledore paced in his office, as he had been for the last 10 minutes, and McGonagall sat watching him, not saying anything. This somehow seemed to be familiar to him and he had been wishing that it would pop back into his head. Finally, he felt fed up with it and stopped pacing.

"This occurance seems utterly familiar, Minerva," Dumbledore finally said. "I just can't put my finger on it."

"Albus, don't beat yourself with it," Minerva said. "We've got time to think about this."

"No. I don't think we have any time at all."

"Why do you say that?"

"I fear that by the time we have figured all of this out, it may be too late." Albus sat at his desk and started writing furiously on a piece of parchment.

"What are you writing, Albus?" Minerva asked.

"The prophecy that Sybill said," he replied. "I want to be able to remember it." When Dumbledore had finished, he place his quill down and rubbed his forehead for a moment. "Please leave me to think, Minerva. And if anyone asks you, particularly the staff, I have thought about it and know some of what I need to know. Without the hope of others, I think that I wouldn't have hope myself." Minerva nodded and stood, turned on her heel and exited the office to leave Dumbledore alone in his chambers.


	9. The First Day

Chapter Eight – The First Day

Damien awoke slowly, feeling the sunshine on his face. He awoke to find that all of the other beds were empty. After a moment of thought, he finally realized that he was late for breakfast. He quickly got out of bed, showered, clothed himself and ran down the stairs and out of the common room. He ran so fast he didn't notice a few pictures on the walls yelling at him to slow down.

When he finally got to the Great Hall, he noticed that some of the people were leaving. _Don't tell me I missed breakfast on my first day, he thought. He went over to where Neville was sitting and smacked him on the back. Neville, who had been chewing something, promptly spit it out on the table._

"Are you _mad?" Neville said, turning to him._

"Sorry, buddy, but looks like _somebody didn't tell me when to get up __or try to wake me," Damien said. "Did you know that I was up there?" Neville gave him a sarcastic look._

"Of course I did," Neville said and pulled a plate filled with breakfast foods over to Damien. Damien's mouth dropped open. "I didn't know what you liked so…" Damien dug into all of it quickly. "…I got a little bit of everything." Damien stopped for a moment.

"Thanks, Neville," Damien said. "Sorry I doubted you." Neville gave him a weak smile.

"Well, we only have 15 minutes to get to History of Magic. It's our first class." Damien picked up a few items and got up from his seat.

"Let's get going, then," Damien said, as Neville got up and led him out the Great Hall. After going up 2 staircases and turning down 4 hallways, they got to the class with a minute or so to spare. The ghost that taught it was writing something on the board as they came in and sat. As the class started, Professor Binns introduced himself and started off talking about the 1827 Hippogriff Trials. In a few minutes, Damien was asleep. Neville noticed him and nudged him awake.

"What was that for?" Damien whispered as he awakened.

"You shouldn't fall asleep in class," Neville said back.

"But it's boring…"

"Everybody knows that. But you still can't sleep." Damien rolled his eyes and rested his head on the desk in front of him. If he was going to be staying awake in these type classes, then he must be crazy. Damien sighed and tried to stay awake for the rest of the class.

At the end of class, they both got up and out of that classroom, Damien feeling drowsy. When they got to their next class, Damien's sleepy mood went away really quickly. It was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. She had a stern face about her, as if she had always had, and started class exactly on the dot of the time.

"Welcome to Transfiguration, I am Professor McGonagall. I hope all of you have reviewed your studies over the holidays because we will start today's lesson with the basics of last year. Could everyone please pick up the plate in front of you?" Everyone did so and showed her. "Very good. Now set them down. I'd like for you to transfigure this plate into a golden goblet. If you remember the spell and turn the plate into a goblet correctly, you will receive an A. I will look at the goblets you make to make sure you make it completely golden. You may begin, call me when you are ready for me to deliberate."

Damien sat in his chair for a moment looking at the plate in front of him. _Okay, now what was that spell again, Damien asked himself. __Think, think, think. Now he wished that he hadn't been asleep so much in his old classes. Then he saw a girl raise her hand a few people down. It was that girl…Hermione, Hermione Granger. McGonagall came and checked her goblet over and gave her an approving look. Hermione smiled broadly and sat up in her chair, her hands folded in front of her._

Was she always this smart? The assignment must have just started a moment ago and she already had finished. But now he realized that he was procrastinating. He had to focus on his own goblet now. What was that spell? Then, it hit him. _Obrevious Transfite. He took up his wand and pointed it at the plate. But then her remembered it had to be gold. What was that word for the color gold? It was…um…__Sebre. Now, he pointed his wand again and cleared his throat._

"_Obrevious Transfite Sebre," Damien said and the plate started to shake a bit. In a moment, it started to transfigure. The plate started to "melt" away and the goblet was starting to form from it. Damien tried to keep concentrated on the plate turning into a goblet and nothing else. He was almost distracted by the girl sitting next to him, but he kept his ground. He didn't want the thing to be half-plate, half-goblet._

After a moment, the plate was all the way gone and the goblet was just about to finish forming. Suddenly, Neville's half-goblet tipped over and distracted Damien, making him move out of the way.

"Neville! You made me lose my concentration," Damien told him. But before Damien could say anything else, there was a yelp from the girl in from of him. They both turned to see that her brown long hair had been turned to a metallic gold. "Oh, no!" Damien just realized that while he had been distracted, his wand had turned to her head and the gold that was supposed to be on his goblet had transferred to her head.

McGonagall gasped and turned to Damien with a scowl. He had never seen a meaner looking face before. She came over to him and looked down to the girl with a much nicer face. She mumbled some words and the metallic gold vanished from her hair. The girl thanked her before McGonagall turned back to Damien. Damien kept his head looking downward so he didn't have to look at her face as she spoke.

"Five points from Gryffindor for this mishap. I hope it will not happen again, Mr. Finch," McGonagall said.

"Yes, Professor McGonagall," Damien said and she went back over to her desk. "Nice going, Neville." Damien nudged him. Neville shrugged and turned back to his goblet. Great. He actually was starting off the school year with a bang. Hopefully, things would get better…but they probably would get worse first.

*****

After Transfiguration, they had Arithmancy with Ravenclaws, but Hermione had Ancient Runes, since she had already passed this class last year. It was pretty boring, but Harry found need to stay awake anyway. Ron, who was actually taking notes, was half-asleep already.

"Do you get any of this stuff?" Harry asked him.

"Well, some of it, I do. It just numbers, you know," Ron said, and yawned. "But there are a lot of numbers…" Harry looked around the room to see that Damien was sitting over with Neville near the front of the room.

"I wonder why Neville and him are so friendly," Harry said a little bit too loudly.

"Mr. Potter!" said Professor Vector from the front of the room. "Since you like talking so much in my room, why don't you come up here and tell the class about these trans-linear equations." It seemed like the whole room had turned to him.

"No, thank you, Professor," Harry said.

"Then please stop talking and start taking notes," Vector said.

"Yes, Professor," Harry said and took out a quill and piece of parchment. Vector turned back around and started speaking again.

"What were you saying?" Ron whispered to him. "Neville and who?"

"Neville and Damien," Harry whispered back. Ron craned his neck to see where they were sitting then looked back at Harry.

"What's wrong with it? We always sit next to each other or Hermione," Ron said.

"But how fast can you be with friends."

"We became friends on the Hogwarts Express," Ron said, "Maybe that's how they met. And why are you so into Damien? What's so wrong with him?" Harry shrugged. He didn't know really. There was just something about him. He didn't know what was about him, but he knew that he had a feeling that Damien wasn't normal. Maybe it was just a false premonition. He hadn't done anything that really put him as a suspect to do anything wrong.

He tried to let it go by the end of class, but it still nagged at him. They got up from their seats and exited the class together, finding Hermione down the hall getting out of her class.

"How was Arithmancy?" Hermione asked them.

"Don't ask." Harry said as they went down the hall and headed for Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

*****

Damien went down the hall and into the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, which was rapidly filling up. He and Neville found some seats near the middle of the room and took them. A few minutes after everyone had come in, a man in long purple robes went up to the front desk and sat casually on top of the front of it.

"Hello everyone," said the man, "I am Professor Sebastian Linquist, and I am your Defence teacher, if you haven't already noticed. Well, let's get started.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts is a very complicated subject, but it can work out for the best if you are in a particularly bad situation. Now, I know most teachers would give you complicated work to do and be off with you, but let's just say I'm not that type. Everyone put away your books and quills and parchment, but not your wands, and move your desks to the walls. Quickly please." Everyone put away their things, and moved their desks, leaving the middle of the room clear. "Very good, now if you were sitting on the side" pointing to the right "please stand on that wall, and if you were sitting on this side, move to that wall."

Once they had all been situated, they looked thoroughly confused. Damien and Neville were both on the left side of the room, looking at each other, eyebrows raised. _What could we be doing that involved the room being clear, thought Damien._

"Right, then. Today, unlike other days, we will be playing a game, and yes, I did say a game. The winner will receive 20 house points and the praise of the classroom. Now, then, Longbottom, Denrege, move up to near the center of the room. Leave some space between you." Neville and a boy from the other side of the room moved up. "Now in this game, you will only use one spell. _Encolore. This spell will cast a random color at your opponent. If you are hit with the color your opponent casts at you, then you lose and will move to the front of the room. And don't worry, these colors will come off." A girl on the right side of the room raised her hand. "Yes, Ms. Granger."_

"How will this help us? Are we going to shoot colors at our attacker if we are attacked?"

"No, no. This is only a fun spell, although I'd like to see the attacker's face if you do use it. This is just to show me how well and fast you cast, to see how much I need to teach you. Now, let's begin, on my mark. 1, 2, 3, GO!"

Both Neville and the boy cast _Encolore at each other. Neville dodged, while the other boy was hit with a bright red color. Linquist smiled._

"Very good, Mr. Longbottom. Please return to your side." Neville nodded and returned to Damien's side, Damien reassuring him. "And Mr. Denegre to the front of the room." The boy nodded and walked to the front, looking rather defeated. "Next, Finch and… Finnigan."

Damien walked up a bit to see a boy of his age walk up too. The boy smirked at him and he chuckled. "Ready, GO!"

"_Encolore!" Damien said just as the other boy did, Damien quickly moved to the right of the spell and shouted it again, seeing the other boy dodge also. The boy, who hadn't expected this, was hit with a dark green color._

"Nicely done, Mr. Finch." Damien returned to the right side and gave Neville thumbs up. All through the class, Linquist called on random people to go against each other. Ron Weasley was easily hit with a aqua color, but Harry Potter dodged a pinkish color to hit his opponent with a dark yellow. Hermione hadn't moved quick enough and was hit with a light orange. Neville and Damien made flew pretty good through their matches, although Neville was hit with a purple near the final rounds.

At last near the end, at the front of the class was mostly people covered in all the colors of the rainbow, cheering on the people that were on their side. On the right were Damien and a girl from Hufflepuff, her last name was Abbott. On the left were Harry and a boy with the last name of Finch-Fletchey.

"It is now down to the last 3 matches. Next, Finch and Potter." Damien and Harry both moved up. "Ready." Both of them readied their wands. "GO!"

They both said _Encolore and moved around saying it again and again. Damien and Harry moved every which way shouting the same spell at each other until…_

"Oof!" Damien said as he hit the floor. He had tripped over his robes and had fallen. Harry easily said _Encolore and hit Damien with a dark purple color. Damien got up in defeat and nodded his head at Harry. Harry nodded at him and went back to the left side_

Damien did feel pretty stupid for falling like he did but he didn't think anymore of it as the next match between Finch-Fletchey and Abbot began. They did also have a minute long match but Abbott won splating light green on the boy.

"Now for the house points it's Potter and Abbott." Harry moved up to Abbott and smiled, which she smiled back. "Now. Ready?" Both of their smiles faded and they nodded. "GO!"

They both immediately shouted out the words and dodged quickly saying the words over again. There were lots of quick movements during this match although Harry seemed to be moving slower than the girl. Suddenly, as luck would have it, the girl had made a wild cast and had missed Harry completely, giving him the chance to get at her.

"_Encolore!" he shouted, pointing his wand at her. She gasped in horror and was hit with a greenish-blue color. Linquist clapped his hands, as did everyone that watched, and smiled at Harry._

"Well done, Mr. Potter, very good work. 20 house points to Gryffindor for your great efforts. And 10 house points to Hufflepuff for yours, Ms. Abbott. All of you did well." Linquist looked at a clock on the wall that only had one hand and made a short gasp. "Well, can we put all of our desks back as it's almost time for the class to end. Oh, and yes, about the color. _Trolocre!" With a wave of his wand, all of the color dissapeared from their robes. All of the desks were put back and the room was filled with chatter until the class ended. On the way out, Harry stopped Damien for a second. Damien told Neville to go along and turned to Harry._

"I just wanted to say that you were pretty good," Harry said to him. Damien nodded.

"Thanks, but why did you stop me like that?" Damien asked. Harry looked at him for a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean stop me like this. You could have told me this at the dinner table."

"Oh, I don't know. Well, I'll see ya."

"Yeah, see ya." Damien watched as Harry exited the room. For some reason, Damien felt a surge that Harry didn't trust him. But why? Why couldn't he trust him? Damien brushed the idea off, and left the room.

*****

Damien sat at the dinner table, eating his food, occasionally glancing at Harry. The vibe from earlier hadn't worn off and it had caused him to think differently about him. Not so much that he didn't trust him.

"How long have you known Harry, Neville?" Damien suddenly said to him. Neville looked at him, bewildered.

"Five years, I guess," Neville said. " Why?"

"No reason. Just, what has he been like?" Neville looked at him again.

"He's been a good friend, very brave. What are you getting at?" Damien shrugged.

"Nothing. Just wanted to know." Neville didn't seem to be conviced.

"Are you sure?" You seem pretty focused on Harry." Damien shrugged again and returned to eating. After a moment Neville also returned to his meal. Damien didn't want to offend Neville, he seemed to be almost the only real friend he has at this new school. He didn't want to lose him.

*****

Harry eerily glanced at Damien and Neville then back at his plate, on which he played with his food. His thoughts of Damien had still not changed. There was just something about him. Ron glanced at him playing with his food.

"All right there, Harry?" Ron said, looking over his shoulder. Harry blinked for a moment and looked over at Ron.

"Yeah, just first day jitters wearing off." Ron leaned back for a moment.

"First day jitters? Harry, we're sixth year. Are you sure you're all right?" Harry shrugged.

"Yeah." Ron patted him on the back.

"Well, you'd better be. We've got Potions with Snape tomorrow. And we've got to be on our toes."

"Right, who knows what tricks Snape has up his sleeves?" Harry looked up and down the Gryffindor table. "Where's Hermione?"

"In the Library," Ron said, rolling his eyes. Harry's mouth opened wide.

"But it's only the first day. We hardly have any homework."

"I know. But Hermione seems to think it's five weeks in, talking about the 5 feet long parchment essay we have to do for History of Magic." Harry rolled his eyes then thought of something. It made him chuckle unintentionally. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing." Harry said, straightening his face.

"What is it, Harry?" Harry looked up at him, a scowl on his face.

"Okay." Harry paused for a moment then got closer to Ron. "You don't _like Hermione do you?" Ron reared back in disgust._

"What?? Hermione and Me? How could you think of such slander? Hermione and I are nothing alike! And it's going to stay that way!" Ron said straight into Harry's face. He then noticed that he had been speaking a bit too loudly as a few girls over at the Ravenclaw table next to them broke out in giggles. "Oh, shut up." He said to them, leaving the table and exiting the room.

Harry wondered why Ron had yelled at him in such a way. It was such a simple question. Although he did have the feeling that Ron was being defensive. He let the thought go and continued eating.

By the time he had finished, a half-hour had passed and most people were leaving the Great Hall. He went with the crowd and left the large room and went up a few staircases until he got to the picture of the Fat Lady. "Password?" she asked.

"Hogswash," said a voice be hind him. It had been Hermione. The portrait swayed to the side and Hermione followed him into the common room. "Sorry for not attending dinner, I had much to look for in the Library." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Well, I wouldn't worry about it. Ron stormed off near the end."

"Really. About what?"

"You wouldn't want to know." Harry tried to go up the Boy's Dormitory stairs but Hermione stopped him.

"About _what?" Hermione said with vigor. Harry shrugged. He looked around them, seeing no one listening, and got closer to Hermione._

"I just _asked him if he liked you." Hermione burst out as if she was a Howler._

"_What??? Ron and I?? Are you __mad? Where would get an idea….argh! Just shut up Harry," Hermione said and stormed off like Ron had. Harry was just as surprised. It was like they both really hated each other. Harry quickly passed it from his mind and ran up the Boys Dormitory stairs, trying to keep it from his mind._

*****

Damien woke up in the middle of the night, sitting up in his four-poster. He rubbed his head for a moment thinking of what had just woke him up as it did. He could hear snoring from all the other four-posters as he looked out of his. He got out of his bed and went to a nearby window.

He looked outside of it to see the still night lurking down below in the schoolyard. It was nothing that he didn't expect but he almost felt like he was being watched. Not to his knowledge, he was.

Feeling safer than he had been, he crept back into his four-poster and laid in his bed. He closed his eyes sleepily and almost instantly went back to sleep.

*****

From a faraway place, Damien indeed was being watched. His every move being saw and his every breath being recorded. Not by just anyone, but Lord Voldemort himself. Voldemort watched as Damien went into a soundless slumber. To him, this was all according to plan. Just then Wormtail entered the room.

"My lord, how goes young Mr. Finch? Is he living up to his title?" Wormtail inquired. Voldemort looked over to him.

"In time he will," Voldemort replied. Wormtail gave no reply, just an inaudible grunt.

"How much time do we have, my Lord?" Wormtail asked. Voldemort glared at Wormtail for a moment.

"As much time needed," Voldemort said in a low voice. Wormtail cowered at the tone of his voice. He always wondered about him nowadays. Wormtail seemed to be getting bolder than he usually was, and Voldemort didn't like it. He figured that he would be extra hard on him from now on. "I need no more questions from you, now I'd like to be alone."

"Yes, my Lord." With that, Wormtail exited the room, closing the door behind him. Not only was Damien being watched by Voldemort, but Wormtail had a few tricks up his sleeve that, in time, would show Voldemort how truly loyal he was compared the that young boy.


	10. The Potions Class

Chapter 9 – The Potions Class

Damien woke the next morning, earlier than yesterday, and went downstairs to find not many people up yet. He exited the common room to have an early breakfast. He saw that the girl, Hermione, was there already eating and doing some work.

"I see you work a lot," Damien said to her. She turned crimson.

"I guess I do," she said.

"But why?" Damien said. Her shade turned back to regular and she turned up to look at him.

"Why what?"

"Why do you work so much?" Hermione thought about it for a moment. She had never given much thought to why she did so much work.

"I guess it's just what I do," she said, smiling. Damien smiled back at her and took up a piece of bacon into his mouth. "Harry and Ron don't understand that well."

"Personally, I don't understand it either." Hermione looked up at him, not sure how to look. "But I guess I respect it." She then turned crimson again.

"Thank you." He grinned at her. "No Problem."

As the Great Hall started to fill the chatter greatened. By the time everyone had finished breakfast, it was almost time for their first period of the day, Herbology. As the students flooded into the room, Damien and Neville took their seats near the front of the room. Professor Sprout, a brownish-grey-haired witch, entered the room almost near the end of the students coming in.

"Welcome to another year of Herbology. As you know, I am Professor Sprout. Now let's start. Today we will learn to care for Hydroclemius Deromitus, commonly known as Water Weeds. These Water Weeds are important for most internal injuries. They aren't commonly cared for, which gives their rarity a factor. Can anyone tell me the reason for this?" Hermione's hand immediately shot up. "Ms. Granger?"

"Because they squirt venomous liquids at all that come near them," Hermione said clearly.

"Very good, Ms. Granger. Take 10 points." Hermione beamed. "Now can anyone tell me how you extract the venomous liquid?" Hermione again shot her hand up. "Ms. Granger?"

"I think you pull one of its leaves and it will come out of the bottom?" Hermione said in an unsure tone. Sprout sighed.

"Very good, Ms. Granger, but not entirely correct. Take 5 points though." Hermione shrugged and but still looked up. "You do pull one of its leaves, but not just any leaf. The purple leaf is the one you pull, and the venomous liquid will pour out from that leaf. It is important not to forget that. If the wrong leaf is pulled it could result in the plant shooting that liquid all across the room and damaging everything in its path.

"Now could all of you please move into groups of three to the many tables already situated. Put on the protective wear waiting for you at the tables. We don't want these plants causing an epidemic. Harry, Ron and Hermione paired off for one table. Damien, Neville, and Dean Thomas went for another. In a few minutes, the tables were set and everyone had their protective gear on. When Professor Sprout saw this, she told everyone to begin.

Damien was closest to the purple leaf at his table. He slowly pulled it down, leaving Dean to steady the plant and Neville to hold out a cup for the liquid. When Damien had finished, an orange liquid oozed down the purple leaf of the plant. Neville quivered impatiently, but he got it all.

Once the liquid was taken up and given to Professor Sprout, she told them to fertilize and water the plant. Dean quickly got some plant food and a pitcher of water. Neville took some of the fertilizer and threw a pinch into the spout of the large bulb-like part of the plant. The plant's purple leaf quickly came back upward. It moved around for a moment then settled down. Damien poured a little water on the bulb of the plant. The plant made a gargling type sound then ruffled it's leaves.

Suddenly, the class broke out in screams as one of the Water Weeds started to spray the liquid it contained all over the classroom. Professor Sprout immediately went over to the plant and curled up one of its leaves, making the plant calm. Sprout looked down at the three people at the station.

"Finnigan, Finch-Fletchey, Brown," Sprout said, looking at the two boys and a girl standing by the table. All of their protective gear had been splotched with the liquid. Sprout sighed. "Go get yourselves cleaned up. And please try to do it well the _second time." All three of them moved quickly and back to their station. Through the end of the class, they didn't mess up once._

At the end of class, everyone left the Herbology greenhouse, heading their separate ways. Damien and Neville both headed back into the castle, up a few staircases and downa few hallways to the Charms classroom.

*****

Harry, Ron, and Hermione now headed for the Charms classroom, where the class was filling up. They were pretty shaken up from last period's "accident" but prepared to work. They sat near the back of the room, almost as Professor Flitwick started.

"Welcome, class, welcome. I am Professor Flitwick. Now let us begin. Today we will focus on the spell of confusion, _Confoundus. It is used many times on Muggles for short times to redo their memories if any come in contact with the wizarding world. It is a simple yet hard spell to do." Ron looked over to Hermione as she brushed her hair back. It probably wasn't going to be a problem for her. She always knew what she was doing. Or so she acted like it._

"Now I'd like you to pick a partner to practice _Confoundus and don't worry, it wares off in a few minutes at your power." With that, people started picking partners. Ron looked over at Damien and Neville who immediately picked each other to practice it on. Maybe Harry was right about them. They did seem to become fast friends. Maybe even faster than Harry and he. But that wasn't what he should have been thinking about now. He and Harry quickly paired up and tried out the __Confoundus spell._

The first time Harry had tried it on Ron, Ron lost complete train of thought as couldn't think straight, as if he were suddenly just turned dumb and sleepy. After a minute or two, Ron returned to normal. Then it was Harry's turn to get "Confounded." Ron casted the spell at Harry, who stood waiting for it. Ron watched as Harry swayed around as if drunk for a moment. Ron chuckled at the sight of him. Harry woke from his "trance" only seeing Ron laughing away to which he rolled his eyes.

They practiced the spell until the end of class. Ron figured that he had had more laughs than Harry but wouldn't admit it. All of them, refueled at lunch with some tasty sandwiches and such. They would need it when they got to their next class, Potions.

*****

They walked down the crowded hallway and finally got to the entrance to the Dungeons. As Damien and Neville were about to enter someone pushed them out of their way.

"Move it," said Draco as he pushed past them. Damien took him by his collar and pulled him back. "Exactly _who do you think you are handling me like that?"_

"Who do you think? You don't push past people, Darco. It's _rude," Damien said to his face. Draco looked infuriated._

"You'll pay soon enough, you yank," Draco said with vigor. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to go to Potions class." Draco put up his chin and stomped down the stairs. That Darco Malfoy made him so mad that he wouldn't mind changing his head into a toad or something of the sort. And what did he mean by _soon enough. Something didn't sound right._

"Malfoy always means what he says," Neville said weakly. Damien didn't even flinch.

"That Darco doesn't scare me." Neville looked at Damien in a strange way but Damien calmed down.

When Damien finally collected himself, he went down the stairs with Neville. They went down the long hallway and up to the Potions class door. They entered to be stared at by half the class. The man in dark robes at the front with the crooked nose came up to them with a stern look on his face.

"You're late," he said to them in a low tone. Damien looked surprised.

"The bell hasn't rang yet, we're not late," Damien said to him. Just then, the bell rang.

"_Now you are. 5 house points from Gryffindor for being tardy." Damien looked really surprised, but just then two kids came in behind them. He noticed them as the two goons that followed Draco. Snape nodded at them and they took their seats. "Now please take your seats."_

"Aren't you going to take house points from them? They came in after us." Snape only looked at him.

"Please _take your seats!" Snape repeated. Damien was about to argue more but Neville tapped him on his shoulder and shook his head. Damien closed his mouth but glared at Snape. He was just plain mean, unless you happened to be a Slytherin. As they took their seats up front, he could hear muffled chuckles from a few people down. No one other than Darco Malfoy. Now Damien had a real hatred of Malfoy._

"Unless I will be interrupted further, I will begin. I am Professor Snape, your Potions teacher. You should already know enough about this class, so we will begin immediately with conjuring the Temperbreath Potion. Your materials are on the tables in front of you. I expect you to be finished in half an hour. Begin." With that, all of the cauldrons started moving around. In a few minutes, everyone had started on their potions.

"You don't want to go getting on Snape's bad side," Neville whispered. "He's a really mean guy. Won't let up on me."

"I guess I sort off got us into this. Sorry," Damien said and turned back to the potion at hand.

"Sorry in advance if we fail this potion. I'm not too keen on this class," Neville said with a shrug.

"Don't worry, I'm not too good either, so it will be both our faults if we fail it," Damien said with a chuckle. Snape's eyes turned to him immediately.

"Quiet Finch! Others are working," Snape said quickly. Damien glared back at him.

"I don't think I'm gonna pass this class," Damien whispered. "I'm gonna be too involved in taking Snape's head and turning it into a chipmunk. Neville made a muffled laugh. After that, they worked harder and harder on their Temperbreath Potion. To his surprise, Damien remembered most of the directions to making it, although near the end he was stumped.

"What was it again? Do you grind the beetle eyes or throw them straight into the potion?" Damien asked Neville. Neville shrugged.

"I don't know, just do what comes to mind first. And Snape's really strict so go with what _really comes to mind first." Damien sighed. He'd never been good at Potions and to have such a strict teacher just made it worse. Well, he'd gotten through much of his Potions classes before on luck, maybe this one would work. When they finally finished neither of them wanted to test it to see how good it was. Damien then saw a rat pass their table and he picked it up. It squirmed in his hand and he put it on the desk. He made sure Snape wasn't looking and got a spoon. He took a bit of the potion into it and fed it to the rat._

Immediately, the rat ran off the desk. Then, all of the sudden it started to walk in circles, then it jumped around, as if in a fit. Both Neville and Damien looked surprised. Their potion was actually correct. With both of them not being too keen on the subject, they did a pretty good job. Then it was time that Snape came around. He went from cauldron to cauldron checking the color and texture of the potion, saying how good or bad it was, good for Slytherins, bad for Gryffindors. When he got to their cauldron, he cast a smirk at it.

"Ah, Mr. Longbottom, what have we here. Another great potion, I presume. And I hope Ms. Granger has stayed in her place," he said, casting a glare over at Hermione. She sulked in her chair. Snape looked into the potion, but the smirk half-way faded from his face. "I do hope that you grinded the beetle eyes into the potion and not just tossed them in." Snape's smirk returned and Neville cowered a bit. Damien didn't flinch, but just looked up at Snape. "Oh, and Mr. Finch. A bit cocky I see, although your record does stand…under par." Damien only flinched a bit but still sat firm. "Well, let us see how good you were."

Firstly, Snape put a finger into the potion and brought it back out. He rubbed it around with his thumb, looking as if expecting it to blow up. When it did not, he took a breath. Then, he took some into his hand. The minute he did, his fingers started to jerk around, to his obvious surprise. Damien almost smirked at the look of him.

"One last thing, I will taste the potion, though it will probably turn me to by death bed." Damien did smirk when Snape did sound defeated. Someone else also noticed this. At that, someone said in a low murmur "_Aretrius Flamero." Damien looked as his potion started to bubble up. More and more it did. Snape took a spoon and dipped it in. He took some out and brought it up to his lips. He glanced at both Damien and Neville for a moment. Then, the potion exploded._

It went everywhere covering everything with its bluish green color. Once the explosion halted, their cauldron was empty but everything was covered its contents. Snape was covered the most. He was head to toe covered in the potion. The anger in his eyes was so great that even Damien cowered in his chair.

"Is this some type of _joke? Have you been __planning this, Longbottom? Or do you just want to see me ENRAGED?" Now Damien was actually afraid of him. He normally was afraid of almost nothing, but this man took the top. "50 points from Gryffindor!"_

"But…" Damien tried to say.

"60!" Snape said. "And detention for a month!" Damien shut up quickly. This teacher was crazy. But he didn't want him going too crazy on him. "Class Dismissed!"

With that the whole drenched classroom left the room. It was early to leave but nobody wanted to question him. As Damien and Neville were about to leave the room, Snape stopped them both. "No, you two are going to clean up this mess! Now! Without magic!" Damien's mouth dropped open but he didn't argue. He had already done enough damage. Damien and Neville both took a rag from the front of the room and started to wipe off every single spot in the room.

*****

Harry, Ron and Hermione left the Potions class, with splotches of bluish-green on them. Ron tried to wipe some of it off, but it only smudged.

"Why would that American do such a thing?" Ron said when they left the dungeons.

"I don't think it's entirely his fault," Hermione said seeing Draco and his friends laughing their heads off on their way to the Slytherin Tower.

"That bastard," Harry said, "I wonder what his problem is with the American?"

"I have no idea," Hermione said. "And don't call him 'The American' like you don't know his name. It's Damien." Both Ron and Harry looked at her.

"What are you being so defensive for?" Ron asked. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You guys are so annoying," Hermione said.

"You've got a crush on him, don't ya?" Harry said. Hermione quickly made for his shin. Harry dodged but was hit with a book to the back of the head.

"I do not. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to change into something clean." Hermione turned on her heel and walked toward Gryffindor Tower.

"Will we ever figure out Hermione?" Harry asked Ron. He sighed.

"Hermione's a labyrinth with a wrong turn each way." Harry nodded.

"Agreed. Or it could be the Temperbreath Potion all over her." They both chuckled and  with that, they headed towards Gryffindor Tower themselves. They did need to change and they had a little while to do it.

*****

After 20 minutes of scrubbing, they had finished cleaning the room. It wasn't perfect, but it was clean of the potion, that's for sure. They turned to Snape, who had been watching their every move. He didn't look satisfied.

"Well, I guess that's all you can do for now. Tonight come to my office to receive your detentions." Both of them sulked out of the room and out of the Dungeons.

"I told you that Snape's not one to play with, and neither is Malfoy." Damien looked over at Neville.

"I see your point, now." Both of them sighed. "Well we've got to get out of these robes." Neville looked at a clock on the wall for a minute.

"No time, we've got to get to Care of Magical Creatures." Damien sulked more but followed Neville around some hallways and out one of the doors to the school.

*****

Harry sat in the classroom by Hagrid's hut next to Ron in some clean robes. Hagrid sat waiting for a moment, then he started.

"Hullo and welcom' to Care of Magical Creatures. I'm - er - Professor Hagrid." Harry muffled a chuckle, as it looked like Hagrid was still getting used to teaching. "Let's get right into workin', shall we?" Just the, Damien and Nevill came rushing in. The whole class turned to see them. They both were coverd in muck and potion. "What's the meanin' of this?" Damien looked up, almost horried at the sight of Hagrid.

"I'm sorry, Snape just kept up late after – "

"No need in all that. No harm done. Just take yer seats." Damien looked relieved at Hagrid's level-headedness and both him and Neville sat quietly. "Now then, today we're gonna start up workin' with Kelpies. Now they're shy creatures, so don' rush up to them too fast. They are wonderful to use when domesticated. Very loyal, indeed.

"Now, I got a wild one from the forest right in the back. If ev'ryone, could please follow me." The whole class got up and exited the backdoor of the classroom. When came out of the class, he saw the Kelpie grazing in the far side of the penned in space.

"I've named this  'ne Silverwind," Hargid said, smiling. Although Hagrid had called this animal "Silverwind", there was no trace of Silver on her. She was purple all around with a long tail. She was made like a horse but her mane seem to blow in the wind, even if there was  no wind like a flickering fire. When she grazed, she showed not teeth like a regular horse but razor sharp ones that looked to rip and tear anyone that got near it. Harry truly seemed terrified as others were as they marvelled at it.

Malfoy couldn't stop boasting that he had way better things to care for at home. Malfoy always seemed to think of himself as the paragon of the school, though many thought otherwise. "You really have swans in a set off pond," said a Slytherin Girl, as if she had never heard before.

"Yes. Mother suggested it to get more in tune with my… feminine side," Malfoy quickly said, and faked a blush. A few Slytherin girls giggled, but one Slytherin girl that had asked the question wasn't. She didn't even seem to e listening. She was looking towards him. No, not him. Past him. And when Harry turned he saw…

_Damien? It was no one other than Damien Finch, the American boy. He chuckled a bit then turned back to the front._

"Ev'ry one, turn this way. You girls o'er there, this way," Hagrid said bringing the class to order. "Now that yeh've seen him, I'm gonna pick a few of yeh to feed him and ride him. It'll add to your grade a lot, it will." Damien raised his hand immediately.

*****

"Mr. Finch, I see yeh have raised yer hand."

"I'd like to go first, - er – Professor," Damien said, not knowing what to call him. He didn't know why he wanted to but he just did. Hagrid nodded.

"Come o'er here and get some food to feed her with." Damien nodded and went over to him. He took some of the oats/pieces of meat into his hand and took a deep breath. He wasn't all too scared of it, he'd seen scarier things back at Aviar, but the way it looked at you with its leering red eyes just had to make you shiver a bit.

Damien slowly walked over to the Kelpie, which didn't seem to notice him at first, although its eyes kept peeking at him. Once Damien got close enough, the Kelpie stopped grazing and looked up at him, fierceness in her eyes. Damien slowly held out his hand with the food in it, as if daring himself to put his head in a lion's mouth at the circus. The Kelpie looked down at the food then back up at him. Damien tried not to show fear in his face, but not cockiness either. The fierceness in the Kelpie's eyes greatened, but Damien stood his ground. Then the Kelpie bent her head out towards his hand. Damien took a deep breath looking at the sharp teeth in it's mouth but still stood his ground. Then, the Kelpie started to eat the bits of food from his hand. Damien exhaled, relieved that she didn't try to bite his hand off.

"Very good, Mr. Finch," Hagrid said, smiling, "Now, let's see if you can ride her." Damien brushed off his hand on his robed and took a short breath. Almost as soon as he did the Kelpie turned to her side, as if waiting for him to get on her. She was about a little higher than his chest in height, but she still could be gotten on. Damien mounted her, with little difficulty,  and soon she was galloping around joyfully. After a minute of riding, the Kelpie stopped and let Damien off. There was something about her that really appealed to him, but he didn't know what.

*****

"Great Job, Mr. Finch. Take 15 points," Hagrid said. Damien smirked and rejoined the group. Ron marveled at his handling of the fierce looking Kelpie.

"He's good, don't ya think?" Ron said.

"Yeah," Harry said, still sounding suspicious. He really didn't know why Harry was so suspicious of him. He didn't seem all that bad. Did seem a little weird, though. Maybe it was just because he was a yank. He didn't know. Malfoy threw his hand up, wanting to feed and ride the Kelpie.

"Uh,oh," both Ron and Harry said. They both vividly remembered the rendevous of 2 years past with the hippogriff named Buckbeak. Malfoy had taunted him and in a flash of claws, he was in a bloody mess and Hagrid was neck-deep in trouble, although it was Malfoy's fault. If Harry and Hermione hadn't saved Buckbeak, along with Sirius, he would have been executed.

"Are yeh sure yeh know what –"

"Yes, I know, now give me some of that retched food," Malfoy said, glaring. The stubborn git looked as if it was a piece of cake. "If that yank can do this, I _know I can do it 10 times better. At least better than Potter," he mumbled audibly. He snatched the food out of Hagrid's hand, when over to the Kelpie and shoved the food in it's face saying, "Here." The Kelpie looked at him in rage. The Kelpie promptly turned around, its butt in Malfoy's face._

At first, Malfoy looked mad at the Kelpie. Then, he looked at it slyly. "So, you want me to ride you early, eh?" He turned back to the crowd behind him and smirked, as if he were better than Damien now. If he hadn't turned around, he might have seen the Kelpie raise it's hind legs. When Malfoy turned back to the Kelpie – OUCH!

Malfoy was kicked in the chest by the Kelpie and was flung about a foot backward, landing flat on his back on the grass. Some people snickered, others (the Slytherins) went over to him in concern. Malfoy had _definitely gotten the wind knocked out of him, though the Kelpie seemed to trot around, satisfied. Hagrid also went over to Malfoy, though not as concerned as the others were._

"I though yeh knew what you were – "

"My father…will hear…of this!" Malfoy wheezed out finally. Hagrid seemed to roll his eyes.

"With yer father's reputation, I would be surprised if he did anythin'. And yeh aren't even hurt," Hagrid added in. "So get up and stop being a dern baby." Malfoy looked at him in awe, but Ron and Harry snickered along with a few other Gryffindors. When malfoy finally got up, he glared at Hagrid but went over to where the Slytherins were to be cared for and 'nurtured' by some of the Slytherin girls. "Okay, now, who's next?"

*****

After some vigorous notes on Kelpies and an assignment of 3 rolls of parchment ("Three rolls? But my notes aren't even that long?" Ron complained) the class ended and they were off for dinner in the Great Hall. It was scrumptious and Harry would have to see Dobby once to compliment their good work in the kitchens. Once the trio had eaten all they could, Ron suggested they go to the common room.

"I'll be there in a bit, I have to get started on my homework. I'll be in the Library," Hermione said getting up from the table and leaving the Great Hall.

"That Hermione and her bookwork," Ron said. "Who needs it?" Harry chuckled, getting up from the table and following Ron back to the common room. "Hmm…what could we do?"

"I'm guessing one thing…" Harry said, rolling his eyes.

"Chess!" Ron and Harry both said chuckling. Both of them went up to their dormitories and got out their pieces.

*****

"Bishop to C7," Damien said, triumphantly. His only bishop moved diagonally to C7. "And I believe that's Checkmate." Neville sat, amazed at the workings of the chessboard. They finished dinner early and went to the common room for a game of chess. In only 10 minutes, Damien had won the game.

"Wow, you're as good as Ron, maybe better," Neville said enthusiastically.

"Ron's good at Chess?" Damien asked. He had never seen Ron play. Neville then told him about his first year at Hogwarts and how Ron beat McGonagall's giant chessboard. "Cool." Damien though about it and though that he might have been able to beat that chessboard too. "Well, want another game?"

"I've got to get to my homework," Neville said. "Talk later?" Damien nodded and Neville went over to a empty small table in the common room.

*****

Harry sat in his four-poster, just thinking. It was his second day at school and everything seemed to be coming out at him. _He might as well do his homework. He pulled out one of his books, opened it and pulled out a piece of parchment. Then something hit him, out of nowhere. Maybe it was just him, but it was about the sorting. Damien had been first been sorted into Grizzelwood. He still wondered what Grizzelwood was. Was it a secret house or something? Harry sighed and got it loose from his thoughts as he worked the numbers for his Arithmancy homework._


End file.
